To date, approximately 7,000 healthcare professionals treating coronavirus patients have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Finland, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
So far, two batches containing approximately 50,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been delivered to the country. The first batch of 10,000 doses arrived on 26 December, and a second batch of 40,000 vaccines on 30-31 December.
“Half of the first batch of vaccine has been given and about a couple of thousand of the second. However, due to data transfer problems in patient information systems, not all vaccinations may yet appear in the statistics," says Mia Kontio, from the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
Precautions
According to the ministry, at the beginning of the process half of the doses in the first batch were saved to be used as second doses "as a precautionary measure."
Now, as vaccine deliveries and cold chain operations are "sufficiently established", THL believes it can immediately supply all vaccines in the shipment. The second doses are already planned with future shipments in mind.
THL is responsible for the distribution of vaccines and municipalities and hospital districts are responsible for arranging vaccinations.
50,000 doses per week
According to the current delivery schedule, Finland will receive approximately 50,000 doses of vaccine per week for January.
According to the Ministry's estimates, persons belonging to the first three vaccination groups (health care personnel, people aged over 70 and those at risk of serious illness) will be vaccinated by summer 2021 at the latest.
These groups include a total of about 1.5 million Finns, the Ministry says.
Free of charge
Finland's goal is to protect the entire population with voluntary vaccinations. Vaccines are offered free of charge to anyone who wants them.
Vaccinations are arranged by municipalities in cooperation with the hospital districts.
Vaccinations are also carried out in collaboration with private operators. Vaccinations, especially for healthcare staff, are also carried out by occupational health care.
