Denmark to complete vaccinations before summer

Danish authorities on Monday predicted that the entire country could be vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of this summer due to a substantial increase in the projected number of vaccine doses deliveries, reported Xinhua.

"We can look forward to receive 900,000 more doses than we expected last week -- and this means that we can now expect to have vaccinated everyone who wants it by the end of 25th week, that is, no later than June 27," said Soren Brostrom, director general of the Danish Health Authority.

A total of 167,506 Danes have so far received both shots and have been vaccinated, according to the authorities.

Adjusted weekly, the current update of the vaccination calendar has identified the capability of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to deliver more doses than expected from April onwards, and help make-up and exceed the shortfall from AstraZeneca which has recently announced that it must downgrade their deliveries in the EU.

"Fortunately, we have resumed the vaccination of our important front-line staff in the health and care sector. And I'm glad to see that the new vaccine from AstraZeneca has been well received,"said Brostrom.

However, the health authorities tempered their optimism by emphasizing that "these are forecasts and that they are thus subject to uncertainty. This is especially true of uncertainty regarding the size of future deliveries."

In Denmark, vaccines are expected to be offered to 4.8 million people, which is not the entire population, because children under the age of 16 years old would not be vaccinated.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 242 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Feb. 9.