Þórólfur Guðnason, Chief Epidemiologist, has stated that he did not hope that an agreement would be reached between Pfizer and the Icelandic government, Indicator reports.
Þórólfur appeared on the radio station FM957 this morning and said that he considered it unlikely that Iceland would be used as a test site for the vaccine.
The epidemiologist also said that the result was a disappointment for many Icelanders who hoped that the vaccine would come very soon.
“Of course it was a disappointment, I do not deny it,” he said. “We had already made certain arguments that it was necessary to examine certain things that we could have done well. But Pfizer looked at it a little differently. “
“I had no hope that we would reach an agreement.”
Asked if he was optimistic about the meeting, Þórólfur said “No, no, I did not expect that we would reach an agreement. I sincerely hoped that we would discuss the issues, see what they said and that could be the case anyway. There was nothing that surprised me so much. “
Iceland is a victim of its own success.
Kári Stefánsson, founder and CEO of deCODE Genetics, agreed with Þórólfur Spotlight that the study will probably not take place anymore because Iceland has too few COVID-19 cases.
Photo credit – Magnús Andersen
When talking to RÚV, Kári told the news agency that “At the meeting we discussed all kinds of possibilities to acquire new knowledge by doing such an experiment in Iceland. The result was that we have too few cases to make it possible. “
Asked if this was the final answer, Kári replied: “To my ears, this sounded like the final answer and the final result.”
Source: The Nordic Page