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* Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2VB16pd
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By Gwladys Fouche and Victoria Klesty
OSLO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Norway plans to use the three
vaccines developed by Moderna, AstraZeneca,
Pfizer and BioNTech in its first push to
inoculate its population against COVID-19, Norway's health
minister said on Friday.
In the first quarter of 2021, Oslo expects to receive a
total of 2.5 million doses, covering 1.25 million people - or
23% of the population, pending approval of the vaccines from
European regulators.
The doses would roughly cover the 1.3 million people in
Norway who are considered in risk groups, Health Minister Bent
Hoeie said, while the 340,000 health personnel in contact with
patients would have to wait.
Non-EU Norway will get access to some of the vaccines
obtained by the European Union thanks to Sweden, an EU member
that will buy more than it needs and sell them to Norway, right
after New Year.
"By Easter, we could be in a completely different situation
than today," Hoeie said.
Norway is proceeding faster than earlier announced; Prime
Minister Erna Solberg said in October she expected vaccinations
to start in the first half of 2021.
Countries worldwide are trying to vaccinate as quickly as
possible as vaccines supplies become available, and decide which
population groups should get it first.
Britain on Wednesday became the first nation in the Western
world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, the one developed by Pfizer
and BioNTech.
In Norway, the first people to get it will be residents of
care homes and those "oldest" living at home, followed by people
aged 65 or more plus younger adults with pre-existing
conditions.
Oslo will also provide vaccines free of charge and make them
part of the country's national vaccination programme.
The number of infections has slowed in recent weeks after
the government reintroduced restrictions a month ago.
Norway's 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per
100,000 inhabitants was 116.4 as of Friday, fourth-lowest in
Europe behind Iceland, Ireland and Finland, according to the
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
(Editing by Terje Solsvik)
