Finland prepares introduction of digital vaccination certificate
People will be able to show the certificate on their phones or print it on paper.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is currently preparing the introduction of a digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate, according to a government statement.
The certificate would show that the holder has been vaccinated against Covid-19.
The certificate would be available in the My Kanta service, where citizens can browse their own medical records and pharmaceutical prescriptions and find the certificates issued by health professionals.
In practice, data on Covid-19 vaccinations would be recorded in the My Kanta Pages where people could view their own vaccination data. The certificate could be digital vaccination data, a barcode, a R code or a combination of these available in the My Kanta Pages and people could display the certificate on their phones or have it printed on paper.
Finland is closely monitoring international solutions related to vaccination certificates. Health authorities authorities intend to make the Finnish certificate compatible with the international model.
According to the Ministry, before the digital vaccination certificate can be introduced, it is first necessary to ensure that vaccination data is stored in the My Kanta Pages in a uniform and comprehensive manner and in the correct form. For this purpose, changes need to be made to a large number of the patient data systems currently in use or a separate application attached to the Kanta Services needs to be introduced to store vaccination data.
A separate certificate
So far, vaccination data has been entered in the My Kanta Pages in many different ways. The reason for this is that the patient and client data systems from where vaccination data is transferred to the My Kanta Pages vary between the municipalities, joint municipal boards and hospital districts.
At the moment, people who have received a coronavirus vaccine may ask for a separate certificate showing that they have been vaccinated.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is preparing a decree under which everyone could get a vaccination certificate via the My Kanta Pages either in electronic or paper format.
"The aim is to introduce the certificate as soon as possible," the government said.