Finland has started preparing to roll out possible second Covid booster vaccinations, according to tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.
The paper reports that Finland has already ordered vaccine doses for use in 2022 and 2023, with adequate supply to give every resident a second booster shot.
An eventual rollout of third jabs would be similar to the initial vaccine programme, in which people belonging to risk groups would be first in line, according to officials from the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District.
HUS' Chief Medical Officer Markku Mäkijärvi was quoted by the paper saying that administering third vaccinations would be warranted for individuals who have weaker immune responses than others.
When the Covid vaccine first rolled out in Finland, it was health care and social services professionals who were first in line to receive it. Then, gradually, the country's oldest residents as well as people at higher risk of suffering serious complications began getting jabs, the paper recalled.
Some EU countries, including Germany and France, have already decided to start offering extra Covid booster shots to the elderly and other at-risk groups, starting in September.
The National Advisory Committee on Vaccines (Krar) is scheduled to meet on 30 August to discuss the booster rollout strategy, Hanna Nohynek, chief physician at the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) told Ilta-Sanomat.
The extra booster's rollout schedule will be determined by Krar, THL and the social affairs and health ministry.
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HS: New Covid strategy coming
Meanwhile, daily Helsingin Sanomat reports that Prime Minister Sanna Marin's (SDP) government is planning a new coronavirus strategy, but it may not be implemented until October.
The government is scheduled to discuss how it will combat the epidemic in the future at a meeting on Thursday.
However, concrete decisions about altering Finland's current 'hybrid' strategy will not be made until next week at the earliest, according to the paper. One reason behind the wait is because the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health will not finalise the plans until the government has hammered out the new strategy's basic principles.
The paper reported that there is a basic, 60-page draft of the strategy already published, but the details still face further scrutiny before Thursday's meeting.
HS further noted that the government has not set even a preliminary decision about when its new strategy will go into effect. According to HS sources, it will not roll out until next month or even October, after significantly more vaccine doses have been administered.
On that note, Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reported on Wednesday that 95 percent of the patients receiving ICU treatment for coronavirus infections in Southwest Finland have not been vaccinated.
The paper noted that no one in the region who had received both vaccine doses and then got Covid have ended up needing intensive care.
Back to school and face-to-face
Children in the capital region and from other areas across the country are returning to school in 'hopeful spirits,' on Wednesday morning following the summer holidays, Helsingin Sanomat reported on Wednesday.
Coronavirus restrictions will once again be evident in the daily life of pupils this autumn, the paper wrote. The parents of a Helsinki first-grader, Eliel Laaksonen, have only been able to visit the school's playground area and they have attended parent meetings remotely.
"I hope that coronavirus is not the first thing that comes to mind when children come to school, but that they come here to meet friends and learn something new," Heidi Metsämäki, principal of Lauttasaari primary school in Helsinki, told HS.
Despite the rising number of cases, students have been able to begin the new school year in classrooms as coronavirus-related health safety measures have been integrated into schools' routines. Metsämäki said that school staff have not been as concerned about starting the academic year as last year, partly due to the protection offered by vaccines.
Some 10 percent of young people aged between 12 and 15 years old have now been vaccinated, mostly those belonging to risk groups, however the vaccine is not yet approved for use for those aged under 12.
Brewery offers €1,000 for old bottles
Hartwall's Lahti Brewery is looking for the oldest of its once-ubiquitous brown bottles, and are willing to pay a reward for three of the containers that have survived the longest through the years, tabloid Iltalehti reported.
The brewing company is investigating the durability of its bottles by conducting the experiment. Some of the bottles have been reused an average of 33 times over several different decades, Iltalehti writes.
Hartwall is the only brewery in Finland that still uses 0.33 litre brown glass bottles. Unlike other glass bottles, when recycled, brown bottles are not broken into pieces, but are washed and refilled, according to the paper.
"The traditional brown glass bottle, designed by Väinö Paasonen, was introduced in the 1950s and we still have the bottle model in use," Hanna Sivenius, Hartwall's Director of Legal and Corporate Responsibility, said in a press release.
The age of the bottles can be detected by their stamp: the last two digits indicate the year of manufacturing of the product. Brown glass bottle entries can be sent to hyvaaeikannata.fi.