Sweden declares pandemic is over, will remove all restrictions despite warning from scientists
In this February 10, 2022 report for Reuters, Johan Ahlander reports on the recent developments from Sweden.
In a statement to the press, Swedish Minister for Health Lena Hallengren told Dagens Nyheter, “As we know this pandemic, I would say it’s over…It’s not over, but as we know it in terms of quick changes and restrictions it is”.
Sweden announced earlier that it would scrap all remaining restrictions as the vaccines and the less severe Omicron variant have cushioned cases and deaths. Limits for indoor venues as well as vaccine passes will also be lifted.
As of last February 9, 2022, Sweden has stopped most testing for COVID-19, with the Swedish Health Agency saying that large-scale testing was too expensive in relation to benefits.
Editor’s Note: Sweden has always been an outlier in the handling of this pandemic, and it has once again led us towards a new milestone. While other countries that have supposedly “ended” all COVID restrictions refuse to remove vaccine passes, Sweden has decided that there is no longer any reason to divide its citizens based on their vaccination status.
We must remember: while the rest of the world shut down their economy, Sweden did its best to prevent any major damage to its economic health [see Sweden’s economy in much better shape than the rest of Europe, Sweden: The Disaster That Never Came].
While the rest of the world punished young children, young children in Sweden were relatively free to go to school and interact with their peers [see Despite open schools, no masks, no social distancing, no children died of COVID-19 in Sweden].
And while the rest of the world scrambled to vaccinate their very young children, Sweden once again did the impossible: it rejected COVID vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 years [see Sweden will not recommend COVID vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11 years].
Sweden shows us how governments should have acted if they truly followed science. Now, we wonder: will leaders of other countries have the common sense and courage to follow their lead?
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