COVID-19 VACCINATIONS IN FINLAND TO BE VOLUNTARY

Work on creating a safe and effective vaccine against novel coronavirus continues in laboratories around the world, and the effort seems to be advancing more quickly than expected even just a short time ago, and Finns are leery about getting mandatory jabs with vaccines that are less effective than they should be, reported Yle News late on September 2, 2020.

But in Finland, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health's chief physician, Sari Ekholm, it may not be compulsory. "No, I don't see any obligatory vaccinations coming here," she said. While a section of Finnish legislation covers the topic of compulsory vaccinations, it cannot be applied to the coronavirus epidemic, according to Ekholm. However, she said in certain cases vaccinations can be made mandatory if there were, for example, an outbreak of a much deadlier disease like smallpox, caused by a bioterror attack.

About 70 percent of Finns are interested in receiving coronavirus vaccinations, according to a survey carried out by the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) last month.

There are several efforts around the world to create a coronavirus vaccine as quickly as possible, and there is hope one could be developed by the end of the year. Ekholm said one vaccine in particular, developed by the Swedish-British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, is one of the forerunners and the EU Commission has already reserved a supply of it once it's ready.