Sweden decided to recommend against the vaccination of children aged 5-11 for Covid, the Health Service announced today, saying that the benefits do not outweigh the risks.

“With the knowledge, we have today, with a low risk of serious illness for children, we do not see any clear benefit to vaccinating them, ” Health Service spokeswoman Britta Bjorkholm said in a press conference.

She added that the decision could be revised if the research data changed or if a new variant changed the pandemic. Children in high-risk groups can already be vaccinated.

Sweden recorded more than 40,000 new cases on January 26, one of the highest daily scores during the pandemic, despite limited testing. While the fourth wave of the pandemic is breaking the record number of daily injections, the health care system is not under the same pressure as in previous waves.

Today, 101 patients with Covid were admitted to the ICU, far fewer than the 400 patients in the Intensive Care Unit in the spring of 2021. In total, almost 16,000 people have died from complications of the disease in Sweden since the onset of the pandemic.

The government yesterday extended the restrictions for two weeks, which include limited opening hours for restaurants and a maximum attendance cap, but said it hoped to lift them by February 9th.

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