The covid-19 vaccination process has generally “worked well” in Sweden, at least according to researcher Anders W. Jonsson. However, it is suggested that the government consider ways to change, among other things, the parental code so that more children can be vaccinated more easily and quickly the next time Sweden faces a “pandemic”.
On Thursday, social affairs minister Jakob Forssmed (KD) received the report on the evaluation of the implementation of vaccination against covid-19 in Sweden. The Minister expressed the hope that the report will save more lives during the next “pandemic” than during covid-19. The report concludes that the overall impression is that the recent mass vaccination campaign has worked well, with joint action with the EU.
– This worked well in Sweden. The way that Sweden has chosen to get access to vaccines, which is joint action in the EU, has worked very well, said Jonsson during Thursday’s press conference.
However, some areas for improvement have been identified to better manage future crises.
– There is no doubt that this will happen again, whether in a year’s time or in eleven years’ time, the investigator claims.
Wants to ignore the patient act
Although regions have generally been able to increase vaccination capacity, achieving consistent coverage has been a challenge in some cases. For example, the covid vaccination rate was lower among some at-risk groups, “especially people with cognitive impairment and mental illness”. It was also low among home care recipients and certain categories of health and care workers.
The patient act states that a patient has the right to choose medication, which became problematic during covid vaccination times, as there were several “equivalent” vaccines to choose from, but not the ability to let the patient choose.
– There should be a change in the law so that in the event of a pandemic and vaccination, the patient act does not apply.
Changing the parental code
It is also claimed that there are problems with school health services and covid vaccines. According to the parental code, in order for a child to be vaccinated, both parents must sign a form. According to schools and school nurses, this meant that it could take time for both parents to approve the child’s covid vaccination. Therefore, the report suggests that the government consider whether it is possible to make changes to the parental code regarding these rules for future pandemic situations.
– This needs to be thought through to make it easier to deal with, says Jonsson. But that goes into the parental code, so it was a bit too complicated for our investigation.
According to the minister of social affairs, the vaccination will continue to be optional and people will have the right to refuse, but he points out that it is a “wise decision” to take the covid vaccine if you are in a risk group. When tax-funded SVT asked how many shots he himself had received, Forssmed replied that he would get back to them with an answer, indicating that he could count them on one hand.
– I’ll have to get back to you on that, the social minister replied.
The government will now analyze the report.
