Since March 11, 2020, the coronavirus has been described as a pandemic by the WHO.
The next step could be for the disease to enter an endemic phase - sporadic outbreaks in limited sections of the population.
Joakim Dillner, professor of infection epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet, believes that Sweden could be there in July or August if the vaccinations keep the current pace.
- The definition of endemic that you no longer have a general spread in the population, then experience from other countries says that it happens with an approximately 60 percent vaccination coverage.
He refers in particular to the development that was seen after 60% of the population in the UK received their first dose.
Individual municipalities have reached 60 percent
Individual Swedish municipalities are already there.
In Vadstena municipality in Östergötland, for example, 65.6% of the population had received their first injection in week 20.
Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam, professor of vaccine immunology at Karolinska Institutet and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' expert group for Covid-19, believes that it is not possible to talk about an endemic situation for an individual municipality as many people move outside their home municipality.
- It is important to have a global perspective and follow developments both in Sweden and internationally, at least for the rest of the year.
High spread of infection in Sweden
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences released a report earlier this week in which, among other things, it advocated continued restrictions for another period to ensure a low spread of infection in parallel with the vaccinations.
- We have among the highest spread of infection in Europe.
As long as we have it, measures are required that reduce the risk of vulnerable people being infected, says Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam.
- It is above all activities where many people are crowded indoors that are problematic.