Finland aims to administer first doses of vaccine on 27 December

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health predicts that the first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrive in Finland already over Christmas.

Finland prepares to start vaccinations alongside other EU countries on 27 December if the marketing authorization and deliveries are in order.

Vaccine deliveries can start only after the European Commission has granted the vaccine a marketing authorization.

The Commission grants marketing authorizations in the EU based on a scientific evaluation and a positive recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The EMA is expected to give its recommendation on Monday 21 December.

The Ministry does not yet know the size of the first batch of vaccines to arrive in Finland but expects it to be relatively small.