Solution Around the Corner

If all goes well, the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine could arrive in Iceland within a few months, Morgunblaðið reports. Potentially, vaccinations could begin as early as January or February. Haraldur Briem, former chief epidemiologist, believes the distribution of the vaccine won’t take long once the producers have received a green light from the US Food and Drug Administration.

“If all goes according to plan, this could happen in January or February next year,” he states. “Not all of it will arrive at once.” He expects health care workers, people with underlying diseases, and people over 60 years of age to get priority.

According to information from the office of the director of health, a work group is planning how to distribute the vaccine. The group includes, among others, representatives for the chief epidemiologist and for the Ministry of Health.

The plan assumes that as soon as the vaccine is being mass produced, the distribution will happen quickly. There are two vaccines that are well along in the development process – one is from Pfizer and BioNTech, the other one from Moderna. Both are reported to be more than 90 percent effective against COVID-19.

In Iceland, the distribution firm Distica, which specializes in the transportation and distribution of health-related products, will be in charge of the distribution and storage of the vaccines. Júlía Rósa Atladóttir, managing director of the company, states that the distribution will take a short time. She expects the vaccine to arrive in many small shipments.

She believes the vaccine could arrive in Iceland during the first quarter of 2021.