Stockholmers must not know in advance which jab they are getting

“We were asked not to comment on which vaccine we are using at the moment, if you want to know why you can ask the region,” says Christoffer Berg, who is responsible for vaccines at Doktor24, to TV4.

According to the Stockholm Region, this is because it is not certain which vaccine will be used and that is why they do not say anything in advance.

But in the Södermanland Region, it is the other way around: they tell you in advance which vaccine is used. “We try to be as transparent as possible regarding which vaccine you get,” says Magnus Johansson, vaccine coordinator in the region.

It was recently reported in Gothenburg that “many who have booked an appointment for vaccination turn around at the door” when they find out that they will receive AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

Sweden’s Corona situation has attracted international attention after the British daily, The Guardian on 13 April published an article entitled “Sweden has the highest new covid cases per person in Europe”. The article is based on figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Sweden currently has 625 newly registered cases per million inhabitants, according to the current seven-day value. In the rest of the Nordic region, the number of cases is as follows:

Finland: 65
Denmark: 111
Norway: 132

“Unfortunately, we have a continued increase. We will see this week where we are going, but it is definitely a high spread of infection and no clear sign of a slowdown,” said state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell at a recent press conference at the Swedish Public Health Agency.

Other countries that are high in the spread of infection are Hungary (523), Poland (521), France (491) and the Netherlands (430).

Sweden was the only country in the Nordic region with a clear excess mortality rate in 2020. During the year, 7,7 percent more died than the average for the previous four years. In Denmark and Finland, excess mortality was barely measurable (about one percent) and Norway even had marginal mortality. However, the country also has lower mortality rates than several European countries that have introduced stricter restrictions or closures.