Coronavirus Vaccines
Has been updated on the 26th of February 2021
Initially, small numbers of vaccines are received at a time. Soite carries out the vaccinations in accordance with the strategy for COVID-19 vaccinations in Finland (in Finnish). Persons younger than 70 will be vaccinated using AstraZeneca’s vaccine, while persons older than 70 will receive Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine.
Currently, the vaccinations of the population are progressing when it comes to following groups:
- persons over the age of 80 who live at home as well as with informal caregivers and other elderly persons (over the age of 70, e.g. husband/wife) who live in the same household.
- 18-69-year-old persons who belong to risk group 1. Appointment booking for this group opens in the electronic Omahoito service on Friday 26th of February 2021 at 12 p.m. and on Soite’s phone line for appointment booking on Tuesday 2nd of March 2021. Persons who belong to risk groups will no longer be personally contacted about coronavirus vaccinations: instead, everyone has to book an appointment themselves. Those who belong to a risk group must be prepared to prove they belong to the risk group at the vaccination site (e.g. by showing your Kela card or a copy of your epicrisis or prescription). Persons under the age of 18 (i.e. 16-18-year-olds) who belong to risk group 1 are vaccinated at the Children's hospital (Lastensairaala/Barnsjukhuset).
- Appointment booking for vaccinations for 75-79-year-old persons who live in Soite's area opens on Tuesday 2nd of March 2021 at 12 p.m. both in the electronic Omaolo service and on the phone line.

Link: Soite’s coronavirus indicator
Follow the progress of the vaccinations in Soite’s channels online and in social media so that you know when it’s your turn to get vaccinated.
Booking an appointment for a coronavirus vaccination
Coronavirus vaccines are only given to those whose turn it is to be vaccinated according to the national vaccination strategy.
An appointment for a vaccination can be booked either electronically or by phone:
- booking by phone: 06 828 7488. Open on Tuesdays from 12 a.m. as long as appointments are available. At other times, those who call will hear a message on the phone. An appointment can be booked by phone on behalf of an elderly person.
- electronic booking online: Soite's Omahoito service
Log on to the Omahoito service with your online bank user identifiers (or some other means of strong identification) in order to book an appointment for yourself. You can book an appointment for another person if you have made an agreement regarding this. Read more: https://www.soite.fi/toisen_puolesta_asiointi (in Finnish)
The electronic booking works more smoothly and we recommend that appointments are booked online if possible. If an informal caregiver or partner who lives in the same household is vaccinated at the same time, the appointment should be booked by phone for both persons.
We ask persons close to elderly persons to make sure they get an appointment for a vaccination and are able to come to the vaccination site.
Initially, only a small number of appointments are available because of the limited supply of vaccines. Appointments will be added as soon as more vaccines arrive in Soite’s area. Appointment booking opens every Tuesday at 12 p.m. as long as vaccines are available.
Appointments are also available in evenings and on weekends. You can see the available vaccination appointments in the electronic booking system. More vaccination times are added when more vaccines arrive in the area. If it is not possible for you to come to an appointment you have booked, the appointment can also be cancelled via the above mentioned channels.
The appointment booking only applies to the first dose of vaccine. The appointment regarding the booster dose is booked at the vaccination site during the first appointment.
During the appointment booking, persons are also placed in a queue. It is possible to come to a corona vaccination from the queue if someone cancels their appointment or if the vaccine bottles yield more doses than expected. Those waiting in the queue for their turn will be personally contacted on the day of the vaccination if the vaccination can be done that day. A person who is waiting in the queue does not have to book a new vaccination appointment; instead, they will be contacted by Soite and offered a vaccination appointment placed in the following vaccination week.
Vaccination sites
You can choose to which vaccination site you book an appointment. Because of the limited supply of vaccines, initially only the following vaccination sites are used:
- Kokkola (place: Halpa-Halli’s old building, Kaarlelankatu 7)
- Kannus (place: seurakuntatalo (the parish house), Valtakatu 20)
- Toholampi (place: Seurakuntakoti (the parish house), Lampintie 7)
- Tunkkari and Kaustinen (place: health center, Mäntöläntie 2 and Pajala family center, Pajalantie 1, Kaustinen)
- Kruunupyy (place: Terjärv child health clinic (neuvola/rådgivning), Hörbyntie 2, 68700 Teerijärvi)
- Perho (place: the health station, Vanhainkodintie 20)
Initially, it is possible to book an appointment only to these vaccination sites. More vaccination sites are opened, in accordance with the plans, as soon as the supply of vaccines increases.
Please observe:
- Come to be vaccinated only if you are healthy and only to an appointment you have booked.
- Take your Kela card with you and take it out while you wait.
- Wear clothes that make it easy to expose your upper arm.
- Use a face mask and disinfect your hands when you come and when you go.
- Keep a safe distance (2 metres) to other people while you wait.
- Be prepared to stay at the vaccination site for 15 minutes after the vaccination.
The vaccination is free and voluntary. COVID-19 vaccines offer effective protection against the COVID-19 disease and especially its severe forms. According to current knowledge, COVID-19 vaccines also work against mutated virus variants (source: THL).
Safety measures against the coronavirus must be remembered even after vaccination — use of face masks will continue
After vaccination it is still important to maintain social distancing, to practise good hand and coughing hygiene, to use face masks when social distancing is not possible, to be tested when symptoms emerge, and to follow other instructions in fighting the coronavirus.
This is necessary because we do not have enough information about how effectively the vaccine prevents transmission. Guidelines are amended as new information emerges, but at this time the same recommendations apply to both vaccinated persons and those not protected by vaccination. This is in line with the precautionary principle.
After the start of vaccinations, it will still take a long time before immune protection at the population level is achieved and the epidemic has been defeated.
Link: Transmission and protection – coronavirus (The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, THL)
Everyone can help in the fight against the coronavirus and other infectious diseases by practising good hand hygiene and by coughing, sneezing, and blowing the nose correctly. This is why these practices are always important.