Sweden Says About 80,000 People Have Had Their First Covid Shot

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN - JANUARY 07: A resident at one of Attendo's nursing homes in Gothenburg receives his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine on January 7, 2021 in Gothenburg, Sweden. All of the 97 permanent residents of the nursing home received their vaccination. Sweden is set to receive 80,000 Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine doses a week, which will be used first to vaccinate the elderly. Sweden aims to provide the vaccine for its entire adult population in the first half of 2021. (Photo by Fredrik Lerneryd/Getty Images)

(Bloomberg) -- Sweden provided a first real glimpse of how its Covid vaccination program is progressing.

The country’s public health authority said that roughly 80,000 people had received a Covid-19 vaccine jab as of Jan. 10, though the actual number is probably higher because some regions have yet to submit fresh data.

Sweden, which has a population of around 10.4 million, has seen a much higher Covid death rate than elsewhere in the Nordics, after avoiding a lockdown and relying instead on voluntary distancing measures.

But with more than 9,000 Swedes now dead as a result of the pandemic, parliament has passed legislation that lets the government shut down large parts of the economy, in a desperate effort to fight the virus and save lives.

Read: Sweden Moves Closer to Shutting Businesses With New Lockdown Law