Finland Will Give COVID-19 Vaccine For Health Care Workers In January 2021

JAKARTA - The Finnish government on Thursday said the COVID-19 vaccination which will take place in January 2021 will be aimed for the first time for selected health workers (health workers) and workers in nursing homes.

The decision was announced after the local government approved a national action plan for the COVID-19 vaccination in Finland.

"Finland's goal is to protect all citizens by giving free vaccines to everyone who is willing to be injected with the vaccine and has no health problems," Krista Kiuru, who is in charge of COVID-19 in Finland, said.

Finland buys the COVID-19 vaccine through a joint vaccine purchase scheme established by the European Union (EU). The vaccines will be divided according to the population of each country.

If you refer to the supply of vaccines that the European Commission has successfully secured, Finland will get 3.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The supplies are sufficient to meet the needs of two doses for 1.8 million people out of a total of 5.5 million people in Finland, said local health authorities.

The government added that the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine will still continue, although until now there has been no vaccine candidate approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Health workers caring for COVID-19 patients and those working in nursing homes will be among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The second group is the elderly and those who are vulnerable, the government said.

The government has decided not to give vaccines to children until there are definitive research and studies on safety and efficacy.

Local authorities warn that the COVID-19 outbreak in Finland continues to worsen. The rate of transmission has doubled from 55 cases to 101 cases in two weeks.

However, the transmission rate in Finland on Wednesday was still relatively low when compared to other countries in Europe.

Finland's corona virus infection rate is below Iceland, which recorded 55.5 positive cases per 100,000 population, while Ireland's transmission rate reached 83.8 cases, according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.