Use of COVID-19 certificates being considered for events and venues that serve food or alcohol

News story | Date: 14/01/2022 | Last updated: 18/01/2022 | Ministry of Health and Care Services

This content is more than 2 years old.

The Norwegian Government has tasked the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health with considering concrete proposals for Regulations regarding use of the COVID-19 certificate at events and venues that serve food or alcohol.

Information in other languages:

‘The Norwegian Government takes a positive view towards greater differentiation of vaccinated and unvaccinated people, and will therefore consider this when it is possible to ease measures further. The Government will not introduce stricter statutory infection control measures for unvaccinated people than for vaccinated people at this point,’ says Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol.

‘Differentiated measures may reduce the burden of measures for the large part of the population that is vaccinated. This is because we can narrow measures to protect unvaccinated people from serious illness and thus reduce the risk of overwhelming capacity in the health and care sector,’ states Ms Kjerkol.

Separate recommendations for unvaccinated people

There are separate recommendations for unvaccinated adults over the age of 18 because they are at greater risk of serious illness if they become infected. Unvaccinated people must be cautious about or avoid large events or gatherings at venues that serve food or alcohol, as it is known that is difficult to keep a distance. They should also avoid unnecessary travel to areas with a high infection rate.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health do not propose any new concrete statutory infection control measures that target unvaccinated people or provisions for use of the COVID-19 certificate at this time. They believe that stricter infection control measures for unvaccinated people than for vaccinated people will have little effect on transmission. The reason for this is that unvaccinated people constitute a small proportion of the population as a whole, and vaccinated people can also spread COVID-19.

There are different measures that govern entry into the country for those who can produce a COVID-19 certificate showing that they are vaccinated and for those who do not have such documentation.

Several reasons for differentiated measures

The Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health have pointed out that there may be two other reasons to differentiate measures than transmission prevention. First, protecting unvaccinated people from serious illness, slowing down transmission among unvaccinated people over a longer period of time, and thus limiting the overall burden on the health services, and the need for measures among the population. Second, increasing the vaccination rate. As Norway already has a high vaccination rate, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health do not think that introducing a vaccination requirement will result in a noticeable increase in vaccine uptake.

A number of clarifications and assessments must be made before the Norwegian Government is able to make any decisions regarding expanded use of the COVID-19 certificate. This is due to the fact that we have a new virus variant with other properties than the Delta variant. One of the matters that must be settled is who is considered vaccinated, as well as the importance of testing.