Deborah from Sweden Feb.5, 2022

Question: What's the triple-vaccination level in Sweden now?

Vaccine status in Sweden, end of January 2022

Answer: Please see the attached graph for vax rates in Sweden. Just over 50% of those 18 years or older have received their 3rd vaccination. This is heavily weighted towards older people, which makes sense.

Question: Did workplaces require vaccinations for their workers, so that some people lost their jobs?

Answer: Workplaces did not require vaccinations for their workers - labour rights are quite strong here in Sweden - so the narrative was always that employers should reassign their workers if there was concern about their unvaxxed status. This even applied to health care workers and home care workers for the elderly, and there was much concern about this, but the Public Health Agency held the line, although it seemed more a legal issue.

Question: Is there public condemnation for people who are unvaccinated?

Answer: Unfortunately condemnation of the unvaccinated has been pushed by the government here, the new Prime Minister advised people “not to hug the unvaccinated” - and then promptly got covid herself. The Public Health Agency seems like a one trick pony, relentlessly hammering on about the need to get vaccinated. But socially, I haven’t heard of any conflict on this level among friends or family. My North American friends in Sweden have lots of stories about conflict within their families back home, and people asking for vax status for private social events.

Question: Is there a hunt for politicians etc. who went to parties early on, etc., similar to that affecting Boris in the UK?

Answer: No, no hunt for politicians and to be honest, the restrictions here have been very light. The only time this was an issue was right at the very beginning of the pandemic when we were told to reconsider travelling abroad - only to find out the head of the agency making this recommendation had gone to Spain, haha - classic.

Question: Are restaurants saying their income is down because of people being "cautious" (the popular word here) about close contact inside?

Answer: No, haven’t heard that angle from the restaurants. They have generally been extremely busy, it’s been hard to get a reservation. They have been pushing back against limitations on table size (max 8) and closing times (11pm).