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COVID-19 VACCINES

Can you get a Covid-19 booster in Denmark if you are not in a risk group?

People not eligible for Denmark’s national Covid-19 booster vaccine this autumn can still get revaccinated, but will have to cover costs themselves.

Published: 3 November 2022 11:09 CET
Can you get a Covid-19 booster in Denmark if you are not in a risk group?
North Jutland Regional director Mads Duedahl visits a vaccination centre in Aalborg during the winter 2021 vaccination programme. Boosters this winter will be made available at a cost for non-risk groups. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

A new Covid-19 booster jab will be available across Denmark from November 15th, but people outside eligible groups who want to be revaccinated will have to pay for it, the Danish Health Ministry said in a statement.

Denmark will offer bivalent Moderna and Pfizer vaccines (that is, the newer vaccines targeting omicron variants) for sale to vendors including general practitioners and pharmacies.

“Vaccination will [after November 15th] be available for purchase to members of the public from GPs, pharmacies and others who choose to take part in the arrangement,” the ministry said.

READ ALSO: Covid-19: Denmark expects to bring updated jab into vaccination programme

While the State Serum Institute will sell the doses to vendors at cost price, it’s up to vendors how much they’ll charge patients for the jab. This also applies with other types of vaccination, specifically vaccination for travel purposes.

“The purchase price for the consumer is set by individual vaccinators, as is the practice with, for example, travel vaccines. The overall price of vaccination may therefore vary,” the ministry said.

The first doses of the Covid-19 booster will be received by vendors on November 14th ahead of a November 15th start date. 

A limit has been placed on the number of vaccines to be released for private sale in order to ensure sufficient supply for at-risk persons.

Denmark’s autumn 2022 Covid-19 vaccination programme began on September 15th, when care home residents and people aged 85 and over were invited for a booster jab.

All people aged 50 and over were offered free vaccination from October 1st.

Other groups for which vaccination is recommended include those who are pregnant, work in the health and elderly care sectors, or are at heightened risk of serious illness.

These groups are not automatically offered a free booster: they receive information from their workplaces or must contact health services independently to check eligibility and arrange a vaccination. This can be done via the vacciner.dk and Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen) websites.

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HEALTH

’No quick fix’ for Danish cancer waiting lists: health minister

Health Minister Sophie Løhde said on Thursday that she “deeply regrets” missed deadlines for bowel cancer treatment at Aarhus University Hospital, but that the government does not have an immediate fix for the problem.

Published: 28 March 2023 14:24 CEST
’No quick fix’ for Danish cancer waiting lists: health minister

Danish law requires cancer patients to be operated on within two weeks of the decision to operate being made.

Broadcaster DR recently reported that 182 patients had waited too long for an operation at Aarhus University Hospital (AUH). Following DR’s report, a Region Central Jutland survey found that 293 patients had waited for more than the two weeks prescribed by law over the past year.

Løhde was asked at a briefing on Tuesday whether bowel cancer patients at AUH can now expected to be operated on within two weeks.

“In reality, that should have happened the entire time. I can’t stand here and guarantee that it will happen again tomorrow or the next day, as much as I’d like to,” she said.

“What I can guarantee is that this has the utmost attention on the part of the government.

“That’s why we have acted resolutely and on Friday presented a regeneration plan for the entire cancer treatment area, where we are saying we want to get to the bottom of this. We want everything out in the open,”she said.

The plan referenced by Løhde was presented by the government at the end of last week following the release of the Region Central Jutland survey.

It includes a request for the Danish Health Authority to review waiting times, capacities and compliance with waiting lists for cancer treatment in each of Denmark’s five regional health authorities. The review must be completed by July 1st.

Regional authorities must also review how they inform patients of their rights, the government has demanded.

Additionally, Regions must live up to their obligations to seek alternative treatment opportunities for patients in other locations if waiting times cannot be met.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

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