Vaccinations - overview

-Automatic translation

Vaccination is a procedure intended to prevent serious communicable diseases. Vaccines are made from a pathogen and may contain attenuated or killed whole viruses, bacteria, or specific fragments of the pathogen. Vaccines usually cause mild symptoms but teach the immune system to recognise infectious agents. If the immune system identifies a pathogen when it enters the body, it reacts quickly to clear the pathogen from the body. In this way, vaccination may ultimately prevent the illness it is directed against, but some vaccinations reduce the severity of illness rather than prevent infection.

Heilsuvera.is

National Childhood Vaccination Program as of February 2024
Vaccines in use in Iceland
Overview of General Vaccinations in Iceland
Along with guidelines for those who have incomplete or unknown immunisation history. June 2023
Information about childhood vaccinations for parents and relatives

-Automatic translation

Vaccination has been a standard procedure in Iceland for decades, and participation is good, especially in childhood vaccinations. The level of participation is fundamental since some epidemics can only be prevented if most people are vaccinated.

The vaccine must reach nearly all the children in each birth cohort. This leads to herd immunity against highly infectious diseases, which means that immunity will be sufficient in Iceland to prevent the spread of the diseases, even if occasional infections occur.

The basic premises for including a specific vaccine in the national vaccination program:

The disease is prevalent, and dangerous complications can arise with some frequency (e.g. chickenpox)

Or

The disease can cause severe epidemics, with many people becoming ill in a short period, with a high risk of permanent complications, such as blindness, deafness, seizures, loss of a limb, infertility and death, examples of which include meningitis, measles and mumps.

Complications that require treatment or are permanent occur in about 1/1000 up to 1 in three people affected by the diseases targeted by the general vaccination program in Iceland.

What does vaccination cost?

Due to the high level of participation in the National Vaccination Program, no obligatory vaccination policy has been instated. Vaccination of children legally resident in Iceland is free of charge because it serves two purposes: protecting children from communicable diseases and reducing the risk of them spreading in Iceland at a cost to the society. Adults and travellers pay the cost of vaccinations themselves if the purpose is primarily individual protection and which does not serve to prevent the spread of infections in Iceland. Certain vaccinations, implemented as an official response because of the risk of dissemination and impact on society, are free of charge.

Side effects of vaccinations

Serious vaccine side effects are infrequent. Hypersensitivity is generally the most common severe reaction, occurring with approximately one in 1,000,000 vaccinations. Thus, the potential harm caused by vaccination is many times less than the harm caused by the disease prevented by vaccination. For some COVID vaccines, serious side effects are more common, ranging from 1/100,000 to 1/50,000 vaccinated, and therefore, restrictions were placed on using those vaccines to reduce the risk of such side effects.

Service provider

Directorate of Health