Finland to introduce EU Digital Covid vaccination certificate from June 22

Finland will update its national Covid-19 vaccination certificate to ensure its inter-operability with the European Union's (EU) Digital Covid-19 Certificate starting from June 22, the country's National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said.

Finland's national certificate, which was launched at the end of May, will be automatically switched to the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate in the My Kanta Pages, the THL said in a statement on Thursday.

My Kanta Pages is an online service where citizens can view the data entered by public and private healthcare services concerning appointments and medication, as well as wellbeing data.

To date, more than 90 per cent of those vaccinated in Finland have already received a national Covid vaccination certificate.

In the future, the certificate will be available in the My Kanta Pages no later than five days after vaccination.

The aim is to make Covid vaccination or test certificates obtained in other EU countries also available in the My Kanta Pages from July 14, the THL said.

All these certificates will be free of charge for citizens, and will be available in Finnish, Swedish and English.

From July, the EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate will also be available to those who do not use the My Kanta Pages, the THL added.

The EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate can be used when crossing borders within the EU, with the aim to facilitate safe and free movement.

The bloc's member states will introduce the EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate and the applications (apps) for scanning it at different times.

In Finland, the app for scanning the certificates will be available from July 1.

According to the THL, Finland had registered a total of 94,081 Covid-19 infections, while the death toll stood at 967.

To date, 52.7 per cent of the country's population have already received the first Covid-19 vaccine dose, and 13.8 per cent the second.

--IANS

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