Safety concern mainly daunts people to take COVID vaccine

In all age group, the main reason for not taking the coronavirus vaccine is concern about vaccine safety, said a report released by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Wednesday.

Younger age groups’ lower vaccine uptake is also partly explained by young people’s perceived lower risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease.

Some of the people also emphasise a lack of trust in the authorities while practical reasons, such as the difficulty of getting vaccinated, also affect willingness to take the vaccine.

‘Since a number of different factors contribute towards good vaccination coverage, there is no one single measure for increasing coverage. In addition to ensuring the availability of vaccines, good distribution, and vaccination practicalities, it is important to continue distributing reliable, research-based information,’ THL Chief Specialist Mia Kontio said.

Meanwhile, vaccination coverage is higher in Eastern Finland than in Western Finland, said the THL report.

Across the country there are also variations between hospital districts and between the municipalities within hospital districts.

The report showed that there are variations in COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Finland both regionally and based on age, gender and mother tongue. The vaccine coverage of health care workers is on average either equal to or better than that of working-age people as a whole.

These differences are partly explained by the population structure of different municipalities and regions, as older age groups have received vaccine doses earlier than others and have also been more willing to take them.

‘Long distances to the hospital district's main city may also be partly responsible for lower vaccine uptake. There are more vaccination points in central cities and they are more accessible by public transport,’ said Kontio.

The age group with the highest vaccine uptake is over 50-years-olds. Their first-dose vaccination coverage is already over 90%.

Women have been slightly more active in taking the vaccine than men. The largest gender differences are found in the 16–29 age group, where the vaccination coverage of men is 6–8 percentage points lower than that of women.

A total of 74% of native Finnish and Sámi speakers have received both coronavirus vaccines, compared to just 45% of native speakers of languages other than the three official languages Finnish, Swedish and Sámi.

The highest vaccination coverage was among native Swedish speakers, with 82% of those in this group having received two vaccine doses.

A clear majority (75%) of unvaccinated persons speak Finnish or Sámi as their mother tongue.

‘The higher proportion of speakers of non-official languages among the unvaccinated population is partly explained by the group's significantly younger age structure. The vaccination coverage of young people is significantly lower than that of older age groups across the entire population,’ Kontio added.

THL has examined the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Finland using data from its vaccination register. The population data, meanwhile, is based on the Digital and Population Data Services Agency's Population Information System, and vaccination coverage data for particular professional groups has been obtained from Helsinki GSE’s COVID-19 Situation Room.

The willingness of the population to take the coronavirus vaccine has been monitored through various surveys since April 2020.