omaolo.fi Vaccinations

Coro­n­avirus Vaccines

This page has been updat­ed on the 25th of Jan­u­ary 2022

Soite car­ries out the vac­ci­na­tions in accor­dance with the strat­e­gy for COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tions in Fin­land (in Finnish) and in accor­dance with guide­lines from the Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL. The vac­ci­na­tions do not cost anything.

Cur­rent­ly, vac­ci­na­tions are giv­en as fol­lows in Soite’s area:

Coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tions are now pro­gress­ing with regards to all per­sons over the age of 5 who live in Soite’s area. 

Vac­ci­na­tions are now main­ly giv­en on walk-in vac­ci­na­tion days with­out appoint­ment book­ing, so you can come to a coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tion when it suits you best. You can also book a vac­ci­na­tion appoint­ment by phone or online.

PLEASE NOTE: When it comes to chil­dren aged 5 to 11, an appoint­ment for vac­ci­na­tion must be booked in advance in accor­dance with the instruc­tions above.

When you take the coro­n­avirus vac­cine, you can take an influen­za vac­cine at the same time. Influen­za vac­cines are still available.

Link: Soite’s coro­n­avirus indicator

Walk-in Vac­ci­na­tion Days with­out Appoint­ment Booking

Soite arranges appoint­ment-free vac­ci­na­tion days dur­ing which you can get your first coro­n­avirus vac­cine dose with­out book­ing an appoint­ment before­hand, at a time of the day when it is most con­ve­nient for you. First as well as sec­ond, third and fourth vac­cine dos­es will be admin­is­tered dur­ing the walk-in-days.

Accord­ing to pol­i­cy by the Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL, it is rec­om­mend­ed that the mRNA vac­ci­na­tion series (Pfiz­er and Mod­er­na) are com­plet­ed pri­mar­i­ly using the same vac­cine. If you want to receive your third vac­cine dose on an appoint­ment-free walk-in day, please check if the same vac­cine is avail­able on that day. Vac­cines avail­able on walk-in days are shown in the infor­ma­tion about the vac­ci­na­tion day. We strive to offer both vac­cines as exten­sive­ly as pos­si­ble, but mRNA vac­cines can also be used in mix-and-match vaccinations.

The Fol­low­ing Vac­ci­na­tion Days Are Arranged:

Week 4

Week 5

Book­ing an Appoint­ment for a Coro­n­avirus Vaccination

You can also book a vac­ci­na­tion appoint­ment by phone or online.

The elec­tron­ic book­ing works more smooth­ly and we rec­om­mend that appoint­ments are booked online if possible. 

Oth­er Infor­ma­tion about Appoint­ment Booking

You can book an appoint­ment via the elec­tron­ic Oma­hoito ser­vice if you have iden­ti­fiers that are need­ed for elec­tron­ic iden­ti­fi­ca­tion (online bank user iden­ti­fiers or a mobile ID). If elec­tron­ic iden­ti­fi­ca­tion is not pos­si­ble, the appoint­ment must be booked by phone.

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.

Appoint­ments are also avail­able in evenings and on week­ends and you may choose which vac­ci­na­tion site you want to go to. The elec­tron­ic book­ing sys­tem shows, which vac­ci­na­tion sites have avail­able vac­ci­na­tion appoint­ments. Vaci­na­tion appoint­ments are always opened for sev­er­al weeks at once.

Please note: if you have pre­vi­ous­ly had an ana­phy­lac­tic shock, please book your vac­ci­na­tion appoint­ment to your own health care cen­tre or via the sec­re­tary at Soite’s vac­ci­na­tion cen­tral, phone 040 804 2821, Mon­day to Fri­day 9 am to 2 pm.

The third vac­cine dose can be giv­en when the amount of time that is required based on the patien­t’s age group or risk group has passed since the sec­ond vac­cine dose.

The vac­ci­na­tion infor­ma­tion is checked at the vac­ci­na­tion site and if less not enough time has passed since the pre­vi­ous vac­cine dose, the fol­low­ing vac­cine dose can­not yet be given.

If an insur­mount­able obsta­cle occurs and it is not pos­si­ble for you to come to an appoint­ment you have booked, the appoint­ment can be can­celled via the Oma­hoito ser­vice or by call­ing the sec­re­tary at Soite’s vac­ci­na­tion cen­tral, phone 040 804 2821 Mon­day to Fri­day 9 am to 2 pm.

Con­sent of the Guardians for the Vac­ci­na­tion of a Child

Under-aged per­sons may decide them­selves if they want a vac­cine if the health care pro­fes­sion­al admin­is­ter­ing the vac­cine con­sid­ers that, based on their age and devel­op­ment lev­el, the child or young per­son is suf­fi­cient­ly mature to decide on the mat­ter on their own. No legal age lim­it has been set for an inde­pen­dent deci­sion, which is why the sit­u­a­tion is eval­u­at­ed on a case-by-case basis. For most of those aged 5–11, the con­sent of their guardians is required.

If a child is unable to decide on their own vac­ci­na­tion or does not want to decide for them­selves, the con­sent of all guardians is required for the admin­is­tra­tion of the COVID-19 vac­cine. The vac­ci­na­tions are vol­un­tary and free of charge. Con­sent can be giv­en with this form (in Finnish).

If the child appears for their vac­ci­na­tion with only one guardian, the absent guardian must have signed the con­sent form. The con­sent form can be print­ed from THL’s (Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare) web­site here (in Finnish).

Vac­ci­na­tion Sites

You can choose to which vac­ci­na­tion site you book an appoint­ment. Vac­ci­na­tion sites for per­sons over the age of 16:

At this point, it is pos­si­ble to book an appoint­ment only to these vac­ci­na­tion sites. 

The appoint­ments for sec­ond vac­ci­na­tions that have been booked to the health care cen­tre in Veteli or the fam­i­ly cen­tre Pajala in Kausti­nen are trans­ferred to Pas­seli. The change of vac­ci­na­tion site does not require any action on the clien­t’s part. The appoint­ment time is not changed, only the vac­ci­na­tion site changes.

Please note:

The vac­ci­na­tion is free of charge for every­one 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).

Kela pro­vides com­pen­sa­tion for trav­el costs asso­ci­at­ed with COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tions 27th of March to 31st of Decem­ber 2021. More infor­ma­tion on Kela’s web­site.

Why Should I Take the Coro­n­avirus Vaccine?

  1. Coronavirus vaccines give effective protection against serious forms of COVID-19.
  2. The vaccines also protect against the long-term effects of COVID-19, the so-called long COVID, which may cause prolonged tiredness, shortness of breath, cough and joint and chest pain.
  3. By taking the vaccine, you can protect not only yourself but also others. The coronavirus vaccination significantly reduces the secretion of the virus and its spreading from one person to another.
  4. The risks associated with the vaccine are significantly smaller than those associated with a coronavirus infection. Link: Information about the coronavirus vaccination
  5. With vaccinations, we can return to a more normal life and the need for restrictions is reduced. Everyone who decides to take the vaccine makes a difference.

Vac­ci­na­tion after COVID-19

Hav­ing COVID-19 leads to a sim­i­lar immune response as a vac­cine dose. Research shows that per­sons who have had COVID-19 and receive one vac­cine dose devel­op a response that is at least as good as that which is devel­oped by a per­son who has not had the dis­ease and who has received two vac­cine dos­es. If a per­son who has been vac­ci­nat­ed gets COVID-19, the dis­ease strength­ens the pro­tec­tion that has been cre­at­ed through vac­ci­na­tion in the same way as the next vac­cine dose does in per­sons who have not had the disease.

It must, how­ev­er, be not­ed that the inter­val between a vac­cine dose and a coro­n­avirus infec­tion must be long enough: at least six weeks. Oth­er­wise, the infec­tion is not con­sid­ered equiv­a­lent to a vac­cine dose. A longer inter­val leads to a bet­ter immune response.

A First Dose after COVID-19

The Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL rec­om­mends a first vac­cine dose for per­sons who have had COVID-19:

A Sec­ond Dose after COVID-19

THL rec­om­mends that a sec­ond dose is offered as a boost­er to those who have had COVID-19 and have received one vac­cine dose. A sec­ond dose:

For those who have had the dis­ease, the sec­ond vac­cine dose is equiv­a­lent to a third vac­cine dose.

A sec­ond dose may, how­ev­er, be giv­en ear­li­er if it is nec­es­sary for exam­ple because of a trip or for oth­er sub­stan­tial rea­sons. In such a case, a sec­ond dose may be giv­en with the ordi­nary inter­val of 6–12 weeks. It is, how­ev­er, good to remem­ber that a longer inter­val between vac­cine dos­es guar­an­tees a qual­i­ta­tive­ly and quan­ti­ta­tive­ly bet­ter protection.

A Third Dose after COVID-19

THL rec­om­mends a third vac­cine dose for per­sons who have turned 12 and are severe­ly immuno­com­pro­mised, even if they have had COVID-19. A third dose is rec­om­mend­ed 3–4 months after the pre­vi­ous vac­cine dose or 3–4 months after hav­ing had COVID-19, whichev­er has hap­pened most recently.

Oth­er per­sons do not, at least for now, need a third vac­cine dose in order to be pro­tect­ed if they have had COVID-19 and have received two vac­cine doses.

A third dose may, how­ev­er, also be giv­en to oth­er per­sons besides those who are severe­ly immuno­com­pro­mised if it is nec­es­sary for exam­ple because of a trip or for oth­er sub­stan­tial rea­sons. In such a case, a third dose may be giv­en in accor­dance with the com­mon sched­ule for third doses.

More infor­ma­tion on THL’s web­site (in Finnish).

Vac­cines

In Soite’s area, basi­cal­ly healthy 12–65-year-old per­sons are vac­ci­nat­ed with mRNA vac­cines (Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comir­naty or Mod­er­na’s vac­cine). More infor­ma­tion on coro­n­avirus vac­cines and answers to fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions can be found on THL’s web­site.

Those aged 5–11 will be giv­en the BioN­Tech-Pfiz­er Comir­naty vac­cine; a prepa­ra­tion with a small­er dosage will be used specif­i­cal­ly for this age group.

The Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL has instruct­ed that men and boys under the age of 30 should, for now, only be offered BioN­Tech-Pfiz­er’s Comir­naty-vac­cine. Accord­ing to a Nordic fol­low-up study, myocardi­tis (inflam­ma­tion of the heart mus­cle) is pro­por­tion­al­ly more com­mon in per­sons who have received Mod­er­na’s Spike­vax-vac­cine than in per­sons who have received BioN­Tech-Pfiz­er’s Comir­naty-vac­cine, and the risk of get­ting myocardi­tis is high­er in young men than in women. Accord­ing to the study, myocardi­tis is, over­all, uncom­mon in per­sons who have received a coro­n­avirus vac­cine. Myocardi­tis occurs con­tin­u­al­ly also in per­sons who have not been vac­ci­nat­ed, as a result of dif­fer­ent infec­tions. More infor­ma­tion in THL’s press release.

Per­sons over the age of 65 are vac­ci­nat­ed in accor­dance with instruc­tions from The Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL. The Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL decid­ed that 65–69-year-old per­sons may also be vac­ci­nat­ed with mRNA vac­cines from the begin­ning of May if the per­son who is to be vac­ci­nat­ed so choos­es (more infor­ma­tion in THL’s text in Finnish). In Soite’s area, this means that per­sons over the age of 65 may choose if they are vac­ci­nat­ed with an mRNA vac­cine (Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comir­naty or Mod­er­na’s vac­cine) or with AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria vac­cine. If the appoint­ment is booked online, the per­son must choose the vac­cine they want to have in the Oma­hoito service.

Please note! Excep­tions are per­sons over the age of 65 who have had a sinus throm­bo­sis or who have had a low platelet count in con­nec­tion with treat­ment with heparin (throm­bo­cy­tope­nia, HIT): these per­sons are always vac­ci­nat­ed with mRNA vac­cines (Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comir­naty or Mod­er­na). If you have had such an ill­ness, please book your appoint­ment by phone.

The use of AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria vac­cine stops in Fin­land in Novem­ber 2021. Start­ing from the last week in Octo­ber, Janssen’s ade­n­ovirus vec­tor vac­cine is offered instead of AstraZeneca to per­sons who have turned 65 and old­er. The vac­cine can also be offered those 18–64-year-old per­sons who can­not be giv­en an mRNA vac­cine because of med­ical rea­sons. More infor­ma­tion in the press release by the Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL (in Finnish).

When Moderna’s Spike­vax is giv­en as a third dose, only half a dose is used. In the vac­cine manufacturer’s stud­ies, half a dose has been used as a boost­er dose and a very good vac­cine response has been achieved with this dosage. With a low­er dose of Spike­vax, the like­li­hood of side effects is also lower.

Comir­naty or half a dose of Spike­vax is also rec­om­mend­ed for the third vac­cine dose for per­sons who have been vac­ci­nat­ed with­in a short inter­val. For severe­ly immuno­com­pro­mised patients, a full dose of Spike­vax may still be giv­en as a third dose.

If the per­son who is to be vac­ci­nat­ed can­not be giv­en an mRNA vac­cine because of an aller­gy, AstraZeneca’s or Janssen’s vac­cine can be used.

All vac­cines, like oth­er med­i­cines, may have side effects. If you expe­ri­ence any side effects and need help, you can call Soite’s Med­ical Helpline at 116 117. Most side effects of the coro­n­avirus vac­cines are mild and tem­po­rary. The most com­mon side effects after vac­ci­na­tion are local symp­toms at the injec­tion site, such as pain, red­ness, heat and swelling. Tran­sient gen­er­al symp­toms such as fever, mus­cle aches, headache, fatigue, irri­tabil­i­ty, nau­sea and chills are also very com­mon. Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion can be found at both THL’s and FIMEA’s web sites.

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 a 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 their nose cor­rect­ly. This is why these prac­tices are always important.

Vac­ci­na­tion Certificates

EU’s COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate is now avail­able on the My Kan­ta Pages. Two oth­er EU vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cates, i.e. cer­tifi­cate on test and cer­tifi­cate on pre­vi­ous COVID-19 infec­tion come to the My Kan­ta Pages begin­ning on 14th of July. The pre­vi­ous Finnish nation­al COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate was tak­en out of use and it is rec­om­mend­ed that a nation­al vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate that is saved e.g. on the phone or print­ed on paper, is replaced with EU’s COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate. The nation­al COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate is auto­mat­i­cal­ly replaced with EU’s COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate on the My Kan­ta Pages.

There is region­al vari­a­tion regard­ing how quick­ly infor­ma­tion on vac­ci­na­tions is trans­ferred to the My Kan­ta Pages. This is why the vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cates are not yet on the My Kan­ta Pages for all per­sons who have been vac­ci­nat­ed. If need­ed, the vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate can be received on paper from the health care services.

EU’s COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate con­tains infor­ma­tion on the coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tions a per­son has received: for exam­ple the name of the vac­cine prod­uct that has been used, the day the lat­est vac­ci­na­tion has been giv­en and the num­ber of vac­cine dos­es. A cer­tifi­cate is received already after the first vaccination.

EU’s COVID-19 vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate can be shown on a mobile device or can be print­ed on a paper. The infor­ma­tion on EU’s COVID-19 cer­tifi­cate is in Finnish, Swedish and Eng­lish. The cer­tifi­cate is free of charge.

Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion in THL’s mes­sage (in Finnish).

Infor­ma­tion About the Coro­n­avirus Vaccine

Rokotustieto.fi (in English)

Safe­ty of COVID-19 vaccines

The Finnish Med­i­cines Agency Fimea and the Finnish Insti­tute for Health and wel­fare THL mon­i­tor the adverse effects and the safe­ty of the COVID-19 vac­cines care­ful­ly — no sur­pris­ing adverse effects have come to light  (THL, in Finnish)

Ques­tions and answers about the coro­n­avirus vac­cine (Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare THL)

Ques­tions and answers about the coro­n­avirus vac­cine (The Finnish Med­i­cines Agency Fimea

Coro­n­avirus vac­cines in Fin­land (the Min­istry of Social Affairs and health)

Infor­ma­tion about the coro­n­avirus vac­cine (ECDC)

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