COVID-19 vaccination in Iceland

Iceland began administering vaccines on December 29, 2020, of the Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca varieties. On March 30, 2021, it was reported that around 100% of Icelandic elderly residents over 80 were fully vaccinated. Doses by Janssen were pending shipments to the country.[5]

On June 30, 2021, it was reported that the government had declared their vaccination programme "completed," as every adult in the country had been offered a vaccine,[6] with 87% of their population of 400,000 having received a first dose[6][7] and 60% having received both doses. The government then said "plans for the vaccination programme and the lifting of restrictions on gatherings have therefore been completed.”[6] As of July 2021, more than 260,000 individuals had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.[1] That was around 78% of the country's total overall population.[2]

The vaccination of Icelandic children aged 12 to 15 began on August 22, 2021, with only the Pfizer/BioNTech used, with Chief Epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason stating to the public that vaccinating children was "the right thing to do".[8]

Booster vaccination in Iceland began on November 15, 2021, with the government stating the goal was to vaccinate 160,000 people by Christmas with boosters from Pfizer and Moderna.[9]

By November 9, 2021, 30,000 people had received a booster shot in Iceland, or 76% of the total population, and of those people, 10 had contracted COVID. Iceland's chief epidemiologist stated that of the around 270,000 people who were fully vaccinated, 4,500 or 1.6% had contracted COVID. At the time, eligible age groups did not include those under 12 years old.[10]

On November 21, 2021, Euronews reported that 90% of the Icelandic population had been fully vaccinated, while around 1 in 5 people had received a booster on top of that. The week prior, the Icelandic government announced the third dose was available to everyone over 16.[3]

There are several COVID-19 vaccines at various stages of development around the world.

Vaccine	Approval	Deployment
Pfizer–BioNTech	21 December 2020	27 December 2020
Moderna	6 January 2021	12 January 2021
Oxford-AstraZeneca	29 January 2021	7 February 2021
Janssen	11 March 2021	Yes
CureVac	Pending	Pending
Novavax	Pending	Pending
Valneva	Pending	Pending
Sanofi–GSK	Pending	Pending

Iceland has divided its population into ten groups in the order of priority of receiving COVID-19 vaccine. These groups are as follows:[11]

• Group 1: Healthcare professionals working at emergency wards.
• Group 2: Healthcare professionals working in outpatient wards.
• Group 3: People living in nursing homes.
• Group 4: Paramedics, ambulance staff, fire brigade employees and other essential workers.
• Group 5: Healthcare professionals in the primary care.
• Group 6: Individuals aged 60 years or above.
• Group 7: Individuals at risk due to underlying long-term illnesses.
• Group 8: Employees in schools and select groups of welfare and social workers.
• Group 9: People living in sensitive circumstances, fragile social and economic situations.
• Group 10: All others.

Everyone will be offered a chance to get a vaccine, but vaccination is not mandatory in Iceland. Pregnant women are not considered as a priority group for vaccination in Iceland.

Data as reported by Our World in Data.[12]

Note: Target population is 12 years and older.

• Official Covid information - Icelandic government website