Turku’s end-of-term celebrations are organised with COVID-19 precautions

-The coronavirus situation is calming down. If the incidence continues to decrease, we will hopefully be out of the community transmission phase in June. COVID-19 precautions should still be taken at small-scale end-of-term celebrations between families, Chief Physician for Infectious Diseases Jutta Peltoniemi points out.

Vaccination appointments continue to be offered for people over 40

76,586 residents of Turku have received their first coronavirus vaccine (45.4% of residents, 25 May 2021) and 17,235 have received both doses (10.2% of residents).

The vaccination coverage is 91.2% for people over 80, 92.8% for people aged 70–79 and 85.2% for people aged 60–69. Vaccines are still available for people over the age of 50, and the vaccination coverage is currently 75.7% for people aged 50–59. Right now, vaccines are available for people aged 40–49, and the vaccination coverage is currently 28.3% (24 May 2021).

“Vaccine coverage needs to be improved, especially within the 45–54 age group. This is why I recommend everyone in this age group to submit their contact details to the myvaccine.turku.fi page, if you have not yet received your vaccine,” Peltoniemi encourages.

Around 35,000 residents of Turku have submitted their contact details at the myvaccine.turku.fi page. This week, the vaccination appointments are sent to people aged 40–42. In the coming days, Turku will start offering vaccination appointments for people aged 30–39. Last week, 1.2% of those who received vaccination appointments by text message cancelled or changed their appointment.

The Leila robot will send vaccination appointments to those who have left their contact details in the Myvaccine page in random order by each age group at a time during May–August. The order of registration is not the vaccination order, but appointments are offered starting from the oldest age group towards the youngest. You can easily remove your registration from the system in case you receive the vaccine through your occupational health service.

The website is available in three languages at:

• otanrokotteen.turku.fi
• jagtarvaccinet.turku.fi
• myvaccine.turku.fi

A national COVID-19 vaccination certificate will be added to the My Kanta service on 26 May.

A free national COVID-19 vaccination certificate will be taken into use in Finland today. It will remain in use until it is replaced by an EU COVID-19 vaccination certificate in late summer. The national vaccination certificates will be gradually updated onto the My Kanta service. The City of Turku has the capacity to introduce the certificate immediately.

The COVID-19 vaccination certificate contains information on the COVID-19 vaccinations received by the citizen. It does not show negative coronavirus tests or positive infections. Information about vaccinations is entered to the My Kanta service with a slight delay. The certificate is electronic and can be printed from the My Kanta service itself, if you wish. The certificate cannot be printed out at the time of the vaccination. If the My Kanta service cannot be used, it is possible to request a certificate later from your own health centre or occupational health care provider, for example.

The certificate can only be used in border crossing situations in those EU countries that accept a national COVID-19 vaccination certificate. Before taking a trip, the person must find out for himself or herself what kind of certificate the destination country requires. Turku’s COVID-19 vaccination helpline cannot answer questions about national policies in other countries.  

The EU regulation on the COVID-19 vaccination certificate is expected to enter into force on 30 June. Member States shall implement the certificate within six weeks of the entry into force of this regulation. When the EU COVID-19 vaccination certificate is introduced, it will also be available on the My Kanta service. Finland and other EU countries may, if they wish, also accept other certificates related to the coronavirus in border crossing situations.

End-of-term celebrations organised with COVID-19 precautions

End-of-term celebrations and graduations of day care centres and schools are organised without large gatherings and only for limited number of children and young people, provided that the safe distances can be maintained. Guardians, loved ones or other guests will not be invited.

When planning a private graduation party, the City of Turku recommends that you take into account the restrictions on gatherings imposed by the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southwestern Finland, which are valid until 31 May, as well as the tips published by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: Safe parties – tips for organisers and participants.

Turku Vocational Institute (TAI) to organise its end-of-term celebrations remotely

The names of spring graduates will be published on Turku Vocational Institute’s website on Friday 28 May. TAI invites everyone to the premiere of the “TAItaviksi valmistuneet 2021” graduation video on 28 May at 8am. The video will be published on TAI’s YouTube channel, where it can be watched free of charge.  

Graduates are also invited to join in the #TAIskoolaa celebration on social media on 28 May from 6pm. You can share highlights of your celebrations by using the hashtag #TAIskoolaa and tagging TAI’s Instagram account (@TAIturku) to your post. During the evening, highlights of the celebrations will be shared on TAI's social media channels.

Registration for the Turku Adult Education Centre's autumn courses starts

Registration for the autumn courses of the Finnish-speaking workers’ institute in Turku starts on Monday 31 May at 11am at opistopalvelut.fi/turku. Registration for the autumn courses of the Åbo svenska arbetarinstitut starts on Wednesday 11 August at 6pm at aboarbis.fi.

This spring’s corona press briefings coming to an end

This spring's press briefings organised by the City of Turku via Facebook and Teams are coming to an end. 19 press briefings were organised during spring 2021. The briefings and their recordings reached around 2,000 viewers per week.

The City of Turku has organised public corona press briefings since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 2020, 52 briefings have been organised. The average attendance has been 1,500 people. In total, the broadcasts have reached 68,408 viewers.

A weekly bulletins and newspaper announcements on Turku’s coronavirus situation and vaccination progress will be published until Midsummer. Throughout the summer, the latest information on Turku's coronavirus situation and vaccinations will be updated on our website:

• turku.fi/en/corona
• turku.fi/en/coronavirusvaccinations