Marek Seer, head of the COVID-19 workgroup, acknowledged the work of healthcare workers so far, but added that vaccinating each person going forward will take more effort and therefore, paying bonuses is necessary and appropriate, the fund announced on Monday.

Health Insurance Fund board member Maivi Parv said that the goal of reaching 70 percent vaccine coverage in Estonia means another 185,000 people must be vaccinated, costing the fund €925,000.

The fund will begin paying €50 bonuses to family physicians, nurses and special treatment providers for each 20 conducted vaccines. All first and second doses will be counted from July 1 to September 30.

In addition to the aforementioned, family physicians will be paid an additional €500 if the vaccine coverage for that physician's registry exceeds 70 percent. The bonus is €1,000 if the coverage exceeds 80 percent.

€500 will be paid to family physicians in Ida-Viru County who achieve 60 percent coverage in their respective registry. In case a registry in Ida-Viru County reaches 70 percent coverage, the provider will be rewarded with €1,000.

Special treatment providers will be awarded with bonuses if the provider reaches 70 percent coverage in the county they offer vaccinations in. An additional €2.20 is paid for every first dose injected. The bonus is paid if the service provider has conducted at least 500 first doses during the period.

Some special treatment providers have begun inoculating people in buses or other mobile vaccination cabinets. Such providers will be paid an additional €50 per each night to go with staff accommodation and €0.03 per each kilometer driven to the vaccination location.

Additional payments will be paid out by the Health Insurance Fund in October 2021. A decision on continuing the payments will also be made then.

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