Demand for vaccinations at Heilsugæslan health clinics in the capital area has increased considerably in recent days, RÚV reports, unsurprisingly prompted by the recent spate of positive COVID-19 infections.
Two hundred people received vaccination shots at the health clinic on Suðurlandsbraut on Wednesday. “We didn’t anticipate this with all the COVID testing we’re doing, too, so we’ll have to limit ourselves to 100 a day,” said Sigríður Dóra Magnúsdóttir, Medical Director of capital-area Heilsugæslan clinics.
Around 50,000 Icelanders have received the one-shot Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine and pandemic authorities will probably call for second shots of one of the other available vaccines, most likely Pfizer, to be administered to these individuals in order to bolster their resistance to COVID-19. Sigríður Dóra says that people who received the Janssen shot will probably not be given a booster until mid-August, but health clinics will wait for further guidance from chief epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason before making any final decisions.
Vaccination staff went on summer vacation on July 7 and are not scheduled to return until mid-August. Sigríður Dóra says that despite the current increase in infections, she doesn’t believe that there is cause to call these employees back from their holidays. It will take around three days to vaccinate the 30,000 capital-area residents, young people, teachers, fishermen, and ship and flight crew personnel who received the Janssen shot.
