Postimees reported on Wednesday that the vaccination of educators has progressed at a leisurely pace, reaching 49 percent in Harju County and over 60 percent on Tartu County.

Many educators refusing the vaccine is partially attributable to the AstraZeneca vaccine, with regard to which there has been much confusion and contradictory information, deputy mayor of Tallinn Vadim Belobrovtsev said.

"We are of the opinion that the solution could be to offer teachers and other school and kindergarten staff to pick their own vaccine. That would increase the number of people seeking vaccination," Belobrovtsev said, adding that many teachers have recently expressed a wish to receive the injection but have been unable to do so as the vaccination of the elderly is currently prioritized over that of front-line workers.

"We've repeatedly highlighted that the City of Tallinn deems school and kindergarten teachers front-line workers whose health is of crucial importance," the deputy mayor said. "In February, we requested that the Ministry of Social Affairs find a way to enable educators to get vaccinated as quickly as possible and the ministry heard our plea."

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