The Ministry of Social Affairs has sent to a round of approvals support conditions under which altogether nearly â¬25 million is to be allocated for investments in hospitals infrastructure in order to improve preparedness for health care crises. We are investing in the modernization of infrastructure of the hospitals in the hospital network development plan to improve the health care system s capability to react to crises and ensure the functionality of the system both during outbreaks of infection and more broadly, Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) said. The purpose of the support is to improve the resilience of hospitals in the hospital network development plan, boost the availability of health care services and ensure the health care system s preparedness for possible future crises, he added.
In the second half of summer, it may be possible to attend large-scale events with a vaccination certificate. The government will discuss the possibility next Thursday.
ETV s Aktuaalne kaamera (AK) discussed the issue on Thursday and said ministers will discuss how the certificate can be used at events in the future. Ministers hope summer activities will not have to be canceled this year.
Minister of Enterprise and Information Technology Andres Sutt (Reform) said: The whole point is that if we look forward to the summer, if we have bigger events coming up, such as Rally Estonia or Saaremaa Opera Days on August 20, then we should be able to find additional solutions so that more people can safely take part.
From Monday, almost 500,000 young people aged 16-49 will be able to register for vaccination. Approximately, 93,000 in this age group have already been vaccinated.
Data from Statistics Estonia show that in Estonia there are 573,000 people in the 16-49-year-old age category. The 93,000 who have already been vaccinated are mostly frontline workers.
This means approximately 480,000 people will be eligible for vaccination from Monday and this is Estonia s largest vaccination group.
Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) said on Monday that vaccine deliveries in the coming weeks will not be large enough to vaccinate everyone straight away.
Between 58,000 and 95,000 doses are expected each week in May and June. Second doses must also be taken into account so not all of the doses will be used as first doses.
The vaccination plan for people under 50 will be announced next week after the vaccination working group failed to agree on a timeframe on Friday.
Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) told ERR the discussions will continue in the new week.
This week the group will map out how many people have been vaccinated in which age groups and those who still need to be vaccinated; feedback from health care institutions, ICT capacity in the digital register; and when health care institutions can open new booking times, he said.
Mass vaccination for the 18-49 year age group is still expected to open in the second half of May. However, despite the government saying everyone would be vaccinated at once, there are now discussions that the 40-49 age group may be done first followed by those under 40 after.
Tallinn Ambulance Service will make vaccination for its staff mandatory and those who do not agree to have the coronavirus vaccine may have their contracts terminated. At least one care home is taking the same step.
Raul Adlas, head of Tallinn Ambulance Service, said being vaccinated is included in the qualification requirements for the position after a risk analysis was carried out. He said staff members only using personal protective equipment is not enough to keep patients safe. Our people find themselves in different situations, they work around the clock, they work with very different patients who can sometimes be very restless, Adlas told ETV s evening news program Aktuaalne kaamera (AK) on Thursday.