Vaccinations Attendo: Fewer unvaccinated caregivers feared, most problems on West Coast – Answer HS vaccine survey

Unvaccinated there have been “fewer caregivers than feared,” says the care company Attendo.

A temporary amendment to the Communicable Diseases Act will take effect on Tuesday, which will oblige employers to ensure the protection of social and health workers against the coronavirus. Those in close contact with at-risk groups must be practically vaccinated or have coronary heart disease.

In advance, the reform has been criticized as a “vaccine force” by caregivers and some workers in the sector have been concerned. At the end of the story, HS asks the employees about their experiences.

For example, the care company Attendo has less than one percent of all employees unvaccinated, according to the company. In total, there are more than 14,000 employees.

“Sure, it awakens terribly, and questions came terribly. But in the end, once we start figuring it out, we actually have very few unvaccinated people or those with inadequate vaccination protection, ”says the director of human experience. Terhi Lindgren.

Government In early December, the proposal estimated that there were a total of about 55,000 social and health workers in Finland without protection against coronary heart disease. There were an estimated 31,000 of those who had not received the first vaccination or had the disease.

Vaccination coverage of Sote employees throughout the country has been compared in more detail by the Situation Room research group at the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics (GSE) and the State Economic Research Center (VATT).

By the end of December, for example, 80.7 per cent of social care caregivers had received two vaccine doses and about 83 per cent of home care home care workers. The most vaccinated in the Sote sectors at the time were doctors, nursing specialists and pharmacists.

The Situation Group no longer produced statistics in January, as its funding ran out.

Attendon According to Lindgren, unvaccinated workers are spread across Finland, but on the west coast a few municipalities have stood out.

“There are a couple of three houses where a lot of work has been done in the last two weeks. More deputies have been caught and asked for from other houses, ”says Lindgren.

According to Lindgren, house managers all over Finland have worked to get nurses to get vaccinated.

He cites the example of Lahti, where, according to him, six nurses in one house had announced that they did not intend to take any vaccinations at all. Eventually, five of them applied for vaccinations, Lindgren says.

For example In Helsinki, on the other hand, it is not yet known how many of the city’s more than 11,000 social workers are unvaccinated. A significant proportion of them work in close contact with clients and patients.

The city units will start investigating the matter from Tuesday, when the temporary article has come into force. Supervisors fill out a form with each employee about their situation.

“We’ll be wiser in a few days,” says Helsinki’s director of hospital, rehabilitation and care services. Seija Meripaasi.

According to Meripaden, it is not yet known what possible replacement jobs would be if they had to be sought. Personnel are currently being transferred in Helsinki anyway, as a new emergency hospital for coronary patients was opened in Herttoniemi in January.

In Finland there is currently a shortage of caregivers. The chairman of the association of community and primary care nurses, Super, is also concerned about this Silja Paavola. According to him, the situation is so critical that “there is no loose anywhere”.

In his view, the most important thing is that the absence of unvaccinated caregivers does not unreasonably increase the workload of those who remain.

“Then patient safety is also compromised in a certain way,” says Paavola.

However, according to Attendon Lindgren, the vaccine obligation does not appear to exacerbate labor shortages in particular. The executive director of the trade union Tehy also believes this Else-Mai Kirvesniemi.

“I don’t think this legislation in itself causes a separate shortage of caregivers. Unfortunately, we already have it, ”says Kirvesniemi.

Law also allows the use of unvaccinated workers if the labor situation so requires.

According to Lindgren, Attendo considers it a last resort, but he does not completely rule it out.

According to Meripadee, the use of unvaccinated workers may also be possible in Helsinki with ffp2 masks and other protective measures to ensure statutory services.

“In very justified situations, but of course that’s not the starting point.”