THL for verifying care workers´ vaccination by COVID passport

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is proposing to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health that the COVID-19 passport could be temporarily used for the verification of the eligibility for work for those holding certain positions in social and health care.

This would mean that an employer could use the COVID-19 passport to affirm that an employee is unlikely to inflict a significant risk of infection on those that they care for or on their colleagues, said the THL in a press release on Wednesday.

“Under our proposal, a temporary section on the COVID-19 passport could be added to the Communicable Diseases Act for the duration of the pandemic, which would make it possible to require, or allow the use of the COVID-19 passport to verify the eligibility of care personnel to work. By using the COVID-19 passport we could better protect the elderly and others being cared for”, said THL Head Physician Otto Helve.

However, THL also feels that there is no reason at this stage to include the coronavirus vaccination permanently in the list of tasks in social and health care, defined by the Communicable Diseases Act, that require protection against a disease either by having recovered from it, or by having been vaccinated against it.

“Using the COVID-19 passport would probably be a faster solution than adding the coronavirus vaccine to the vaccination cover required of students and employees in social and health care under the Communicable Diseases Act. Enacting such a change in stipulations of the Communicable Diseases Act would probably require lengthy preparation, which would add to the risks to patient health safety”, said Markku Tervahauta, Director General at THL.

THL has delivered its statement to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The government will decide on possible preparation of legislation and the possible expansion of the use of the COVID-19 passport for verifying the vaccination cover of care personnel. Preparation of legislation requires, among other things, the evaluation of related questions of fundamental rights.

On 23 September 2021, coronavirus vaccination coverage for health care professionals was at least 90 percent for the first vaccinations and 80 percent for the second. These figures are higher than for the population on average.

Among health care professionals, the groups with the lowest vaccination coverage include social work assistants, carers for the developmentally disabled, home care personnel, and other practical nurses. In these groups, vaccine coverage for the first dose is 83–85 percent, and 68–73 percent for the second dose.

Vaccination coverage for both the first and second doses is lowest among social carers. Carers in the social field work in care homes and in residential and service units for the elderly, which house people who, because of their age or illness, face a high risk of getting a serious case of coronavirus disease, or of death from the disease.