The framework for mass coronavirus testing should also be used for vaccines – Coronavirus Vienna

Kurz emphasized that the massive tests would begin before Christmas. Some 100,000 doses of vaccine are likely to be delivered in January: “First we want to vaccinate risk groups and medical personnel, as well as employees of nursing homes, and then go out to the masses.”

With regard to today’s virtual meeting with federal states, municipalities (through President Alfred Riedl) and cities (represented by Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig / SPÖ as president of the Association of Cities), the government emphasizes that it is mainly about the handling of tests and vaccines. be. In all federal states there is the will and the will to advance and support both projects. Discussions on this topic will intensify in the coming days.

The experiences and structure of mass testing should also be used for vaccination. To this end, a vaccination plan will be launched in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. Currently, the government assumes that the first vaccines will be approved before Christmas. These would then be delivered in installments.

Of course, people are not so excited about conversations everywhere. From a federal state it was said Monday night in the APA that the federal states would not be treated on an equal footing: “But they are obliged to assume responsibilities.”

On Monday evening, the Governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser (SPÖ), evaluated the videoconference with the governors that had been convened by the ambivalent Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the ÖVP. On the one hand, it should be called constructive, as the conference once again revealed that federal states are grappling with the same issues and the same questions, Kaiser told the APA late at night.

At the same time, Kaiser criticized the fact that Kurz and participating ministers, from Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) to Education Minister Heinz Faßmann, and Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (both ÖVP), responded in a limited to these questions, in the videoconference.

Kaiser again pointed out that information about the massive tests could be read in the media for days. At the Monday night appointment, numerous legal, organizational, personal and prosecution issues were discussed. His demand for a common strategy from now on through mass testing of pedagogues with repetitions of vaccination coverage was supported by both Kurz and ministers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Heinz Faßmann (ÖVP), announces in a letter for teachers to participate in the massive Covid-19 tests scheduled for December 5 and 6. The minister emphasized that the voluntary test offer was also supported by the teachers’ union. But “it only makes sense if as many as possible participate,” it said in the letter available to the APA. “I will certainly do it myself.”

The minister is “very satisfied that teachers in compulsory and secondary schools, administrative staff and colleagues from primary education institutions have a high priority.” That is “just a sign of recognition.”

Rapid antigen tests from Roche and Siemens would be used. Both tests are currently rated by science and AGES as the most reliable instruments available on the market, the minister said. The test result is available in approximately 15 minutes after taking a nasopharyngeal swab.

The tests are carried out by the armed forces and the Ministry of Health. The samples will only be taken by trained healthcare workers, Faßmann said. In this or the next week, another letter should be sent to the teachers with more precise details.

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