Expects Majority of Icelanders to Be Vaccinated First Half of 2021

Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir states she expects the majority of Icelanders to be vaccinated for COVID-19 the first half of this year, mbl.is reports. Vaccinations in Iceland have gone better in Iceland than had been expected, she adds.

“What happened was that we decided to cooperate with the European Union and Norway, and I believe that was a good decision,” she told Bylgjan radio yesterday on the program Sprengisandur. “That way, we benefit from cooperation with other nations and enjoy the strength of the European Medicines Agency, and we make contracts with many different manufacturers [of vaccine].”

Katrín stated that the situation of vaccine development and vaccine purchases keeps changing. After a meeting with representatives from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, it became clear to her that it’s difficult to estimate precisely when herd immunity will be achieved globally.

She was asked about the talks of deCode Genetics CEO Kári Stefánsson and Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason with Pfizer about their idea to speed up the delivery of sufficient Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to Iceland to achieve herd immunity in exchange for a phase IV trial of the vaccine in Iceland.

“There have been talks,” she replied. “Kári and Þórólfur have provided information [to Pfizer] regarding the conditions that exist in our country and how this could be done. As has been reported, the ball is in Pfizer’s court,” she stated.