The vaccine arrived in Austria – Coronavirus –

A refrigerated truck with a large infrastructure inside, escorted by police vehicles, delivered the valuable merchandise on Saint Stephen’s Day, according to the Interior Ministry. The transport started in Puurs, Belgium, at 2 am units from the regional transport departments of Vienna and Upper Austria received it at the Suben border crossing (Schärding district).

The long-awaited products were then received at the Herba Chemosan Apotheker AG sales office in Simmering. From the wholesaler’s warehouse, around 10,000 servings are distributed throughout Austria. In addition to Vienna, immunization takes place on Sundays in Upper and Lower Austria, Styria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg and Tyrol, mainly in homes for the elderly and the elderly. More deliveries are expected in Austria from Monday, a larger one on New Year’s Eve. Austria participates in the start of vaccination at the same time throughout the EU.

The vaccine that everyone was waiting for now rests in refrigerators in the huge warehouse and logistics room of the pharmaceutical wholesaler. The term Freezer best describes the situation. Because exactly 9,750 vaccination doses are stored at minus 74 degrees Celsius. They were delivered in two containers. In other words: the amount alone is not unusual. Millions of vaccines are distributed each year, the company stressed.

As CEO Andreas Windischbauer explained, only the first tranche is fully deposited with Simmering. All other deliveries are distributed to a total of 17 branches throughout Austria. According to Windischbauer, one vial is enough for five vaccines. Doctors also receive syringe kits with the vaccines. However, when the vaccine reaches the end user, it is no longer as cold as in the warehouse. So it should be between plus two and eight degrees Celsius.

The first delivery is intended for vaccines from tomorrow Sunday, and Herba Chemosan itself is delivering in Vienna and Lower Austria. The federal states of Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzburg, Styria and possibly also Carinthia are supplied by the federal army, as explained by Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP). Instead of helicopters, vehicles are used for economic reasons. According to Windischbauer, the allocation of 4,000 cans has already been precisely fixed. Vienna will receive 2,000, as explained by Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ).

Visiting politicians in Stefanitag, Pfizer Austria Managing Director Robin Rumler once again outlined the path that leads to the approval of the active ingredient and said there was no reason for skepticism. Parallel studies were expensive. The vaccine has been shown to protect against the disease by 97 percent. Another 900,000 cans will be brought to Austria in the first quarter. In total, it should be 3.5 million in the coming months, Rumler said.

“Today is a historic day,” Defense Minister Tanner said happily. Today and tomorrow, Sunday, history will be made. The armed forces are in action, as they have been for months, having already provided support with contact tracing or massive testing. Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) spoke of a “nice Christmas present” and promised to get vaccinated as soon as it was her target group’s turn.

However, initially the vaccine will be supplied primarily to nursing homes and health facilities. MedUni Vienna will kick off the event on Sunday, where five high-risk patients over the age of 80 will be vaccinated at 9 a.m. The first injections will be carried out by Ursula Wiedermann-Schmidt, President of the Austrian Vaccination Society and President of the Commission Austrian Immunization Commission, and the President of the Austrian Medical Association, Thomas Szekeres, in the presence of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) and Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens).

The Covid station at the Favoriten Clinic will be the next station in Vienna around noon. According to Mayor Ludwig, Christoph Wenisch, head of the infection department, will be the first to receive the drug there. With the exception of Burgenland and Carinthia, the other federal states also want to immunize the first people on Sunday.

Federal Chancellor Kurz, for his part, appealed once again to take advantage of the vaccination. Everyone has to decide for themselves, but he definitely wants to get vaccinated, he said in an interview with ORF. The Chancellor was convinced that statistics would also help here. Older people, in particular, can “watch very closely” how high the risk is of being admitted to a hospital or even an intensive care unit in case of infection.

The president of the SPÖ, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, also sees vaccines as a “great opportunity for us to return to normal life” after the last few months, which were “very challenging for everyone”. The more people get vaccinated, the better it will be, says the head of SPÖ in a video on her Facebook page.

The number of new corona infections has continued to decline in Austria. According to the Ministry of Health and Interior, 1,429 people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the last 24 hours. The number was even below the seven-day average of 1,896, which is not surprising given the holidays. With 17,384 tests recorded in one day, 8.2 percent tested positive. The third blockade started in Austria at Stefanitag.

From December 26 to January 17 inclusive, private gatherings are only allowed to a limited extent. Several people from a household can only know one person from another. Exit restrictions apply again throughout the day. You can only leave home for specific reasons, for example, to go to work, help others, go shopping, take a walk, take animals or play sports outdoors. Once again, commercial and body-friendly services such as hair salons will be closed. After January 17, there will only be relief for those who previously tested negative for the corona virus.

The lockdown is intended to further reduce the rapid rise in fall. On November 13, a maximum of 9,586 new infections were recorded in 24 hours. As a result, the number of those who were hospitalized and those who died increased considerably. In the last 24 hours, 60 people in Austria have died from the corona virus. A total of 5,843 people did not survive the consequences of an infection. The seven-day average is still 90.6 deaths.