Finland: Government discusses preparation of vaccination certificate and changes to hybrid strategy action plan

NordenBladet — In its meeting on 16 February, the Government received a briefing on the preparation of new updates to the hybrid strategy action plan. The updates to the action plan are necessary because the new powers laid down in the Communicable Diseases Act require more detailed guidance than before. The Government will decide on the updates later.

The Government also received a report on the preparations for the new electronic vaccination certificate. The vaccination certificate will be connected to the My Kanta (Omakanta) medical information service. The vaccination certificate could be a bar code or QR code displayed on a mobile phone, and it could also be printed on paper. The preliminary cost estimate for the electronic vaccine certificate is EUR 3.5 million. The goal is to have the electronic vaccination certificate ready for use by the end of April. The Government was also briefed on the epidemiological situation.

According to the experts’ assessment, the situation in Finland is currently two-fold, and the regional situations are fluctuating rapidly in different directions. Prevention measures have been successful in many areas, and the situation at the national level is fairly stable in terms of the number of cases and the incidence of the epidemic.

However, several localities have also reported mass exposures that have led to extensive transmission chains. It is still possible that we will see a sudden deterioration of the situation throughout the country, especially as the threat of the spread of new virus variants among the population remains significant. The situation is not over yet, and we must be prepared to tighten the restrictions if necessary, but at the same time, we have to set our sights on our gradual exit from the epidemic and the safest possible reopening of society.