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HEALTH

Can you get a covid vaccine in Denmark if you’re not in the at-risk groups?

If you’re not in one of the ‘high risk’ categories, a covid booster can be hard to come by in Denmark.

Published: 5 February 2024 13:53 CET
Can you get a covid vaccine in Denmark if you’re not in the at-risk groups?
A Covid-19 vaccination centre in Aalborg in early 2022. Private Covid vaccine boosters have become less widely available. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

A growing body of research indicates that keeping your covid vaccination up to date decreases your risk of long covid—a range of cardiovascular, neurological and respiratory symptoms that can be debilitating. But accessing the vaccine booster is not straightforward in Denmark if you are not within one of the ‘risk groups’ for the national annual booster scheme.

Ahead of winter 2023, the Danish government made a significant change to its covid vaccination policy. From November 2022 until October 2023, anyone who wanted to get vaccinated could do so at the government vaccination centres for a modest fee.

But in October 2023, the Danish government said it was bowing out of the elective booster game, since “vaccines will be sold on the private market under normal market conditions,” the Danish Health Ministry (Sundhedsministeriet) wrote.

READ ALSO: Covid-19 no longer given special status in Denmark

But it seems pharmacies and private clinics didn’t step in to fill the void the way the Danish government expected—although public health websites linked out to the Apotek pharmacy chain as a resource for voluntary covid vaccination, Apotek pharmacy confirmed to the Local Denmark via email that they did not offer paid covid vaccines this year.

As of February 5th, the only option for a voluntary covid booster in the Greater Copenhagen metropolitan area is through Copenhagen Medical, a private clinic in Sankt Annæ Plads near Nyhavn that offers a range of travel vaccines and tests. The Pfizer booster costs 920 kroner.

Other companies offer paid vaccinations, but the closest clinics are at least 30 km away (for instance, the Danske Lægers Vaccinations Service offers paid covid vaccines at their Roskilde and Hillerød locations).

The public covid vaccine campaign ended on January 15th, by when 1.1 million people had received a Covid vaccine during the 2023-2024 season in Denmark, according to the State Serum Institute, Denmark’s infectious disease agency.

SSI told the Local that it is unable to determine how many of those were through the public vaccination programme and how many were paid for at private clinics.

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HEALTH

Denmark to spend 334 million kroner on paths to boost ‘declining’ cycling

A total of 69 local and national bicycle lane projects are to receive 334 million kroner in funding in 2024.

Published: 26 June 2024 12:40 CEST
Denmark to spend 334 million kroner on paths to boost ‘declining’ cycling

The money, which will see Denmark’s already extensive network of bike lanes continue to grow, comes from a 2021 transport agreement setting aside money for bicycle infrastructure, the Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

Some 64 different municipalities are receiving funding including 28 projects for school bike access.

Under the terms of the agreement, local authorities can get 40 percent of the cost of new bicycle lanes covered by the state fund.

The five new national bicycle lanes – which are fully state-funded – will be built in locations including the Hedensted, Næstved, Norddjurs and Kalundborg municipalities, which are split between Zealand and Jutland.

Distribution of the funding must be rubber-stamped by parliament’s Transport Committee, a process which will be scheduled for after parliament’s summer holiday, the ministry noted in the statement.

“It’s great that we are now expanding the bicycle lane network but cycling is unfortunately declining despite a political desire for the opposite,” the director of the Transport section with the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), Karsten Lauritzen, said in a statement.

“The forthcoming investments in bicycle lanes which are part of the 2035 infrastructure plan should therefore be brought forward,” he said.

The Transport Minister, Thomas Danielsen said he agreed with the assessment that fewer people are using their bicycles and said a national strategy was on the way to tackle the issue.

“When I became transport minister I was gladly given responsibility for a three-billion-krone spending plan for cycling. I did that but at the same time, we don’t have a clear idea of how to get the most cycling and therefore most for this money,” Danielsen said.

“So this cycling strategy should take the form of a resource to help us decision-makers spend the money as wisely as possible,” he added.

The strategy should be prepared by late 2025, he added.

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