Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) told ERR the discussions will continue in the new week.

This week the group will map out how many people have been vaccinated in which age groups and those who still need to be vaccinated; feedback from health care institutions, ICT capacity in the digital register; and when health care institutions can open new booking times, he said.

Mass vaccination for the 18-49 year age group is still expected to open in the second half of May. However, despite the government saying everyone would be vaccinated at once, there are now discussions that the 40-49 age group may be done first followed by those under 40 after.

"We need to negotiate and map whether to open it to everyone on May 17 at the same time or in stages, in order to avoid such a risk of congestion on the one hand, both from ICT solutions and on the other hand, in the knowledge that vaccines come in weekly deliveries, hundreds of thousands will not come to us at once," Kiik explained. "Inevitably, we will also have to spread supply and demand over May and June. Gradually, all Estonian residents will have the opportunity to be vaccinated."

The Ministry of Social Affairs said on Friday that 40,950 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech, 8,400 doses of Moderna and 6,400 doses of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive in Estonia next week.

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