pic: verywellhealth.com
Yesterday afternoon, Reuters reported that Astrazeneca had signed a 400 million dollar contract to supply “european countries” with 400 million doses of an eventual vaccine. However, not all countries were actually in on the deal, and it’s unclear what the arrangement means for Sweden.
The contract is for a vaccine called AZD1222, developed at Oxford, that isn’t at all fully developed and tested yet, but is expected to be perhaps ready for delivery at the end of the year. Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands are the countersigning parties, in a constellation called “Europe’s Inclusive Vaccine Alliance”. In another contract, Astrazeneca has another deal for 1.7 millions doses with the US, the UK and India.
SVT reports that, so far, Sweden has no similar deal. Minister for Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren, however, came out yesterday to say that Sweden is in intensive negotiations with Astrazeneca and other vaccine developers. As for the deal that the other European countries have made, it is still unclear as to if these countries were out for themselves or whether the deal they signed is meant to help all or any other European countries. When asked specifically whether Sweden was any kind of partner to this, Hallengren said that the signing countries should come out and say what the story is: “The ambition is to see to it that other EU countries are a part of it, but speed has been needed.”
It was only at the end of May that Sweden came around to the realization that maybe a vaccine deal might be a good thing. The strategy they put together consists of a “continued international cooperation” and the nomination of a vaccine coordinator (!) with a mandate to see that Sweden’s needs are taken care of. The Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten) has been given the responsibility to prioritize the vaccine’s distribution when it becomes available.
Seeing, perhaps, that these measures are likely ineffectual (bordering on pathetic) the government announced Sunday that it has upped the stakes a bit. From originally only granting a limit of 350 million kronor for “preparedness investments” (bereddskapsinvestering), the Public Health Agency has now been given permission to loan up to 2 billion kronor. “When a vaccine becomes available, the means to procure it must also be available” said Minister Hallengren.
This may mean that Sweden has come to understand that Sweden’s municipalities do not, and have not had, the muscle or the weight to bid against other countries when trying to purchase supplies: Sweden’s system of decentralization has meant that every municipality has had responsibility to get its own supplies. It was only lately realized that the municipality of Västerås doesn’t quite have the purchasing power that buying for the entire country of say, Austria has. To give a heavy purse to the Public Health Agency to swing with for Sweden, if it’s not too late, will help.
Furthermore, any vaccine doses that are procured shall be evenly distributed around the country: “it makes no difference where you live” proclaimed Hallengren. Sadly, it has been all too apparent in the case of Sweden’s elder care, that when supplies are limited, a reckoning of your importance is indeed taken into account.