© EFE
The application of the fourth dose is indicated only when three or four months have passed since the previous vaccination.
The public health agency Sweden recommended to citizens older than 80 years inoculation with a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
This reinforcement, stated the authorities, is necessary to strengthen the immunity of this group amid the spread of the Omicron variant.
“The capacity of immune system reaction once morest the vaccine to create long-lasting protection decreases with age. A booster increases this protection,” Anders Tegnell, a Swedish epidemiologist, explained in a statement.
The recommendation of the fourth dose, according to local media reports, also includes those older adults who, before reaching 80 years of age, are living in nursing homes or receiving care at home.
In any case, reported the health authorities, this additional dose It should only be administered when three or four months have passed since the previous vaccination.
In this way, Sweden joins the list of countries that will implement a fourth dose for vulnerable and/or elderly people, among which are Israel, Spain and Denmarkalthough the Scandinavian country anticipated this Friday that it does not plan to inoculate a fourth dose to other groups of its population, nor a third to those under 18 years of age.
Currently, according to data from February 11, In Sweden, more than 55 percent of those over 18 years of age have already received the third dose once morest covid-19.
Last week, the Swedish health authorities removed most existing restrictions by the coronavirus pandemic and announced that they will stop testing on a large scale, even among people with symptoms. The reason: the high percentage of the vaccinated population and the lower impact of the Omicron variant of the virus.
“We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the tests are no longer justifiable,” confirmed the head of the Swedish Public Health Agency, Karin Tegmark Wisell.