Vaccines 

Vaccines are medicinal products that prevent infectious diseases as well as related secondary illnesses, disabilities, and deaths. Vaccinations are a safe and effective way to protect individuals from infectious diseases and thereby also reduce the spread of pathogens in the population.

Thanks to vaccinations, many infectious diseases, along with their complications and secondary diseases, have become very rare or have disappeared entirely in Finland. Sometimes the vaccinated person may fall ill despite having received the vaccine, but in these cases their symptoms are usually milder. 

National vaccination programme 

The goal of the national vaccination programme is to protect the Finnish population as effectively as possible against diseases that can be prevented by vaccination. Vaccinations included in the national programme are voluntary and free of charge. The vaccines in the programme are funded through the state budget. 

The national vaccination programme does not include all possible vaccines. Vaccines can also be purchased at a pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription and administered at a health centre or a private medical clinic. 

Read more

Infectious diseases and vaccinations (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)

Basic information on vaccines (Rokotustieto)

Finnish national vaccination programme (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)