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An 84-year-old woman from Lower Austria was the first to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in Austria on Sunday morning. She wanted to finally be able to meet her family, grandchildren and great-grandchildren again, Theresia Hofer said after the injection.
Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP), who attended the vaccinations at the medical university together with the Minister of Health, Rudi Anschober (Greens), spoke of a historic day: “Vaccination is the beginning of the victory over the pandemic” . Both politicians assured that vaccination was not considered.
The first 10,000 doses of the vaccine, which must be stored at minus 74 degrees Celsius, were previously transported to the federal states by the armed forces. They also decided where the vaccines would start. The next tranche should be delivered around New Year’s Eve. Rudi Anschober hopes that “everything really gets going in the second week of January.” In total, Austria has obtained around four million doses from Biontech / Pfizer; two vaccinations per person are required within a 21-day interval. Pfizer Austria Managing Director Robin Rumler stated that his company had enough doses of vaccines for nearly three million Austrians.
Video: Accompanied by politics and cameras, the first people in Austria were vaccinated against the corona virus on Sunday morning.
Who will be vaccinated and when?
The president of the Austrian Vaccination Commission, Ursula Wiedermann-Schmidt, carried out the first vaccination. He is also a member of the National Vaccination Committee, which made further recommendations on the distribution of the vaccine in St. This specifies exactly which target groups should be vaccinated first. The first phase, residents and staff of nursing homes and hospitals, began yesterday. Another 230,000 vaccines are expected for this group in January (see also box).
The Ministry of Health hopes that vaccinations in the “high priority” group can start from February. Young people between the ages of 16 and 60 are the last to arrive. Vaccination is not yet planned for children and adolescents under 16 years of age.
The vaccination committee’s recommendations also explicitly emphasize that people with known allergies should be vaccinated. In contrast, there is currently only limited experience with pregnant women. “A vaccination should also be carried out after an infection has passed,” the commission recommends. It is not yet known how long the protection will last, but it is assumed that the viral load and therefore the risk of infecting others are lower. Masks must be worn for now.
Electronic ordering system
The Moderna vaccine is expected to be approved soon and the AstraZeneca vaccine shortly thereafter. Anschober announced an electronic ordering system, but has yet to specify it in more detail. Slovenia could serve as a model: there, those who wish to vaccinate are registered and informed when it is the turn of their target group.
Kurz was confident that normalcy would be possible again by the summer. And Anschober also said that Austria would be so well equipped with vaccines for the fall that there would be no fear of the coming fall and winter. (wins)
Video: ORF correspondent Veronika Fillitz reports on the procurement of the vaccines and explains why the EU was able to impose itself on national interests in this case.
The prioritization of the target groups in detail:
- Very high priority: Residents and staff of homes for the elderly and elderly, as well as the health sector, over 80 years of age.
- High priority: People with previous illnesses and of special risk (trisomy 21, organ transplants, dementia, dialysis patients) and their closest contacts, people from the mobile and 24-hour care sector and the age group 75 to 79 years.
- Higher priority: People between 70 and 74 years old and those with previous diseases (obesity, heart failure, COPD, asthma, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, cancer and the like). Asylum seekers, homeless people, prisoners and responsible staff in prisons, social professions, pastoral workers.
- Moderately increased priority: Teachers, kindergarten teachers, police, ambulance, key personnel and people between 65 and 69 years old.
- Moderate priority: Between 60 and 64 years old, employed in retail, gastronomy / tourism, personal services, artists, elite athletes.
- Slightly increased priority: Hobbyists, cultural workers in the private sector (eg choirs), teaching staff in secondary schools and universities.
- Priority general recommendation: 16 to 60 years.
