The right to order vaccines included in the National Vaccination Programme lies with the hospital pharmacies or medicines centres of the wellbeing services counties, which distribute the vaccines to vaccinators in maternity and child health clinics, schools and health centres within their area.
Hospital pharmacies and medicines centres order vaccines from THL’s vaccine distribution centre of the pharmaceutical wholesaler generally once a month, or if necessary twice a month. With one order, the stocks of all vaccines included in the vaccination programme are replenished. It is recommended to keep no more than three months’ supply of vaccines in stock.
Read also: Distribution of influenza vaccines
Ordering
- The table at the bottom of the page lists the vaccines used in the National Vaccination Programme and their user groups. The list also indicates the shelf life of the vaccine if it is less than six months at the time of distribution.
- Risk groups for special groups should be known when placing an order. When ordering vaccines for special groups, please include information on which risk group the vaccine is intended for. We pay special attention to the consumption of vaccines for special groups and to reporting the risk group in connection with the order. The risk groups for targeted vaccinations can be found on our website on each vaccine’s own page.
- Use an order form printed from your own system.
- Send the vaccine order by email. Use “Vaccine order” as the subject line of the email.
- Use THL’s customer number in the vaccine order. If the customer number is missing, you may request it from the vaccine distribution centre.
- Notification of exceptional opening hours
- Use your email program’s read or delivery receipt functions to ensure that your message has been received by the vaccine distribution centre.
Delivery days
- Order date Monday – delivery date Wednesday
- Order date Tuesday – delivery date Thursday
- Order date Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – delivery date Tuesday of the following week
- No deliveries are made on Fridays or on the days preceding long public holidays, unless otherwise specifically agreed between the customer and the vaccine distribution unit.
Urgent orders may be considered for individual vaccines, provided that the urgent need has been communicated by phone to the vaccine distribution unit.
Please take into account the costs to society arising from small individual deliveries, as well as the environmental impact caused by additional cold packaging and transportation.
Distribution of Influenza Vaccines
THL annually procures more than 1.7 million doses of influenza vaccine for the National Vaccination Programme. The vaccines are delivered to the hospital pharmacies and medicines centres of the wellbeing services counties during the autumn.
In order to speed up distribution, THL prepares a distribution plan in advance, which is sent to medicines centres and hospital pharmacies for review in August–September. The parties responsible for organising vaccinations, hospital pharmacies and medicines centres, should cooperate in planning local distribution and vaccination activities.
Distribution of vaccines to hospital pharmacies and medicines centres usually begins in September–October. After the planned deliveries, hospital pharmacies and medicines centres may order additional vaccines from THL’s vaccine distribution centre.
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