Finland could use all efficient and safe COVID-19 vaccines: PM

Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Friday that her country could "use all vaccines against COVID-19 that are efficient and safe,” reported Xinhua.

Marin said that primarily the European Medicines Agency (EMA) should assess the sales permits, and thereafter also in Finland, such a vaccine could be taken into use.

The prime minister said that she wanted as many safe and efficient vaccines as possible to apply for a permit in Europe.

The possibilities of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V came up at a government press conference on Friday, following a confirmation by former President Tarja Halonen late Thursday that Russia would be willing to offer the production technology of the vaccine for use in Finland.

Halonen had been in contact with Russia in her capacity as the Finnish representative in a COVID-19 working group of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Krista Kiuru, Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services, told the press conference that Halonen had contacted Russia with a view to the worldwide availability of Russian vaccines to combat COVID-19.

According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), 8.1 percent of Finnish people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The critical limit for herd protection is about 70 percent.