This week, Finland will begin vaccinating people in risk groups against bird flu, reports Finnish media.
It will be the first country in the world to do so, according to Reuters.
Earlier in June, the EU's emergency preparedness and response authority signed an agreement with British CSL Seqirus to purchase 665,000 doses of vaccine against the H5N1 variant of bird flu, which has recently begun to spread among an increasing number of different mammals, as well as both wild and domestic birds.
And according to the EU, Finland will be the first to start distributing the vaccine.
The vaccine is free for adults who, due to their work, are at greater risk of contracting the virus - for example, those working at fur farms or handling birds.
One reason Finland is eager to start vaccinating is the country's many fur farms - where there is a risk that the animals will come into contact with wild animals, according to the Finnish equivalent of the Public Health Agency.
Vaccines for 10,000 people have been purchased with the aim of preventing illness and also limiting the risk of the virus mutating and spreading among humans.
So far, however, no cases of bird flu have been detected among humans in Finland, and the virus is generally very rarely detected in humans.
Sweden has chosen not to participate in the EU's joint procurement.
