Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for medical staff begins

Requirement of COVID-19 vaccinations among health care professionals working in close contact with the elderly or other vulnerable groups took effect in Finland on Tuesday.

According to professional statistics, some 80,000 academically educated nurses and 140,000 practical nurses are employed in the country, reported Xinhua.

Parliament approved the change in the infection ailments act in December.

From Tuesday, the employer will have the right to ask employees who work with the elderly for their vaccination information. Nurses who refuse cannot be dismissed, but if no suitable work will be found for them, their salaries can be suspended, reported National broadcaster Yle.

It will be the employer's responsibility to first offer other tasks to those who do not want to take the vaccine.

Vaccination rates among health care professionals are higher than the general population in Finland. According to Yle, 95 percent of the nurses of the Helsinki-Uusimaa health district have got two vaccine shots, and 69 percent three, while the respective figures for the general population in the area are 69 percent and 40 percent.

To date, some 2.49 million people in Finland have been vaccinated three times, representing 44.8 percent of the total population or 50.8 percent of those aged 12 and over.

The country's Institute for Health and Welfare on Tuesday reported 3,244 new COVID-19 infections, raising the national tally to 493,114 since the start of the pandemic.