Finland’s COVID-19 policy actions: balancing between legal boundaries, human rights and controlling viral spread
Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Background.The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that every country must constantly reevaluate their strategies and come to terms with the new reality: despite ongoing vaccinations, COVID-19 is here to stay for an unspecified time, and public health measures to slow its spread must be carefully weighed against their negative consequences to the economy, social life and other aspects of health.Objectives.The purpose of the study was to describe and discuss the policy actions taken by the Finnish Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.The scope of the study comprised both obligatory decisions and voluntary recommendations to prevent widespread viral transmission and subsequent excessive strain on health care resources. Methods.A narrative review was carried out using data gathered from web pages, reports and publications by the authorities and other reliable actors.The time frame included in the study extended from 1 January 2020 to 28 March 2021 to build a timeline over the whole of the pandemic so far, from the first wave to the current strategy.Findings.Finland declared a state of emergency in mid-March 2020, activating the Emergency Powers Act that enabled a nationwide closure of schools, prioritisation of health care resources and waiving overtime regulations for health care staff.Public venues, restaurants and mass gatherings were shut down under ordinary legislation.No stay-at-home orders or day care closures were adopted; these were replaced by voluntary guidelines on social distancing and hygiene.After a significant decrease in incidence during the summer and a subsequent second wave in late 2020, the country shifted towards a hybrid strategy relying on efficient test-traceisolate-treat processes, targeted regional measures, and vaccinations.As of March 2021, a third surge in incidence and increasing occurrence of mutated SARS-CoV-2 variants forced the Government to contemplate shifting towards a more restrictive agenda, including lockdown. Conclusions.Finland's strategy relied on a combination of obligatory and voluntary measures, emphasising open communication and accountability towards the public.Decisive leadership, keeping human rights at the heart of policy making, and a high degree of public trust on authorities contributed to Finland's position among the European countries least affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.These factors enabled the timely introduction of countermeasures and a good level of public compliance to restrictions and guidelines.However, Finland may be facing significant future challenges due to the emerging third wave, uncertainties about vaccine efficacy against new viral strains, and long-term consequences of the pandemic situation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis thesis is the culmination of my MPH studies that began in autumn 2018, just two months after the birth of my baby daughter.To acquire another Master's degree (in addition to my pharmacy degree) seemed like a good way to do something useful during my parental leave, and it did indeed enrich my life in many ways: new perspectives on health sciences, interesting new experiences of education in a curriculum other than pharmacy, and many new friends from all over the world, all of whom were nice, intelligent and brought the viewpoints from their respective home countries into class and lunch table conversations.The thesis topic itself was not my first idea but emerged when the COVID-19 pandemic unravelled globally.It was not easy to finish, as the facts kept changing and the data had to be updated constantly: initially, the gathering of data was planned to end at October 2020, but ended up continuing until the end of March 2021.This made the writing process seem like a never-ending project, not lightened by the fact that we also
Author: Tengvall-Unadike, Unni
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7038053846