Finland Starts Vaccinating 12-Year-Olds, Okays COVID Pass Amid Spike in Infections

Despite considerable vaccination progress, officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health have pinned the spike caused by the Delta strain to gatherings at bars, restaurants, as well as private events.

Finland's government is pushing ahead with plans to introduce a COVID pass and launch the vaccination of children aged 12 to 15 amid a 56-percent rise in new cases over the past week.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who was recently voted by Finns to be the best in the 21st century over her handling of the pandemic, admitted that there are still questions that need to be answered, but nevertheless gave the green light to the introduction of COVID passports, national broadcaster Yle has reported.

Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä cited a broad agreement between coalition parties over the need for the certificate, calling it an important tool to avoid restrictions.

Marin also said the vaccination of young teenagers will start as early as next week.

"Fortunately, we have received an extra batch of approximately 200,000 doses of vaccine in Finland, from which these vaccinations [for 12- to 15-year-olds] can be started without interfering with other vaccination programmes", Marin told broadcaster Yle.

So far, about 74 percent of Finland's population has had at least one COVID shot, while 40 percent are fully vaccinated.

Yet, new cases of COVID-19, almost entirely caused by the new, more contagious Delta strain, have mounted at an accelerated pace in recent weeks in many parts of Finland. Last week, there were 4,574 new diagnosed cases, compared to only 2,925. In the past 24 hours alone, Finland saw 752 new lab-confirmed cases.

Director of strategy at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki, said the country's new COVID cases most commonly stem from gatherings at bars, restaurants, as well as private events.

To this, Prime Minister Sanna Marin's government responded by reintroducing epidemic-related restrictions on bars and restaurants, which will go into effect on Sunday.

Still, despite rising infection rates, the situation is completely different from that in the spring, because the cases of infection do not correlate with the need for medical care, the county's chief physician Otto Helve told the newspaper Hufudstadsbladet, dismissing the need for remote studies and other measures.

Since the start of the pandemic, Finland has seen some 110,000 cases, with nearly 990 deaths.