Get the recommended vaccinations – they protect you and people close to you from serious diseases

Taking care of your own and your children’s vaccination protection is one of the most effective ways to safeguard health. The benefits of vaccination are undeniable. They prevent serious diseases and keep some of them from spreading in Finland altogether.

Finnish vaccination coverage has long been excellent by international standards. This is reflected in the health of the population. Thanks to vaccines, dangerous diseases such as measles, diphtheria, and polio have practically disappeared from Finland. At the same time, many secondary illnesses and even fatal complications have been eliminated.

“We must not forget the importance of vaccinations, even if the serious diseases they prevent are no longer visible in our everyday lives,” says Mia Kontio, leading expert at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

High vaccination coverage must be maintained to prevent diseases from returning from countries where they still commonly occur.

For example, measles epidemics have increased in Europe in recent years. At the same time, measles vaccination coverage has declined in Finland. Measles can be a serious illness for anyone.

According to the latest data, 92% of children born in 2018 have received the MMRV vaccine offered at age six, which protects against measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox. Coverage should be 95% to stop measles transmission chains.

“Measles is extremely contagious. Up to nine out of ten unprotected people exposed to measles will become infected,” Kontio explains.

Ensuring children’s vaccination protection is one of the most important health decisions parents make

Many vaccine-preventable diseases can be especially dangerous to young children. That’s why vaccinations begin early. For example, whooping cough is particularly dangerous for infants. For this reason, immunity is strengthened already during pregnancy; vaccination during pregnancy protects the newborn from infection.

The actual childhood vaccination programme begins at three months of age, and by the end of primary school, the child has received protection against 13 different infectious diseases.

“Lasting vaccination protection is built in early childhood. This protection can last a lifetime,” Kontio says.

The varicella vaccine, for example, protects a child from chickenpox and its complications, but it also significantly reduces the risk of shingles later in life – a common and painful illness among older adults.

High vaccination coverage benefits everyone

Despite Finland’s high vaccination coverage, the proportion of completely unvaccinated children has increased. 

Among children born in 2016–2019, about 1% were entirely unvaccinated. Among those born in 2023, the figure is already 2.2%. This means that nearly a thousand children in that age group have not received any vaccines at all.

The rise is partly explained by growing vaccine hesitancy and vaccine skepticism.

“We want to remind everyone that not a single vaccine in the national program is unnecessary. Many of the diseases we vaccinate against are especially dangerous for small children. The benefits of vaccines always outweigh their possible harms,” Kontio says.

Vaccinations prevent infectious diseases by protecting individuals and reducing the spread of pathogens within the population. When diseases cannot circulate, vaccines also protect those who cannot be vaccinated due to age or health conditions.

In the future, more and more cancers will be prevented through vaccination

The HPV vaccine, which prevents several types of cancer, is included in the national vaccination program. It prevents cancers that cannot be avoided in any other way. Besides cervical cancer, these include penile cancer and cancers of the mouth and throat caused by the human papillomavirus.

Without vaccination, up to 80% of people will contract an HPV infection during their lifetime that increases cancer risk.

The vaccine is administered in school health care to students in grades 5 and 6. The long-term significance of the HPV vaccinations that began in 2013 will become evident in the coming decades as fewer people fall ill and die from HPV-related cancers.