Corona: More counties are starting vaccines today | NDR.de – news

Status: December 29, 2020 6:30 am

After the vaccination campaign started on Sunday in the Cloppenburg and Osnabrück districts, it begins today in other districts. According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, the next 50,000 doses of vaccines are ready.

According to the ministry, it is certain that Bentheim County wants to vaccinate starting today. The county should receive 1,000 doses of vaccines on Monday. According to the district, the plan is for two mobile vaccination teams to vaccinate residents and staff at a senior facility in Nordhorn in the morning.

Communes inform when they are ready

Around 127,000 doses of vaccines should be available by the end of the year. “Starting Tuesday we will be able to supply the vaccine to all districts and urban districts, which indicates that everything is ready for vaccination in particularly threatened facilities,” said Heiger Scholz, head of the Crown. State government crisis team, Monday. A spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs said urban districts and districts received a message one day before Christmas Eve that the vaccine was now available. This will be delivered when the municipalities are ready to be vaccinated.

Doesn’t start immediately everywhere

The news was a bit surprising, said Thomas Walter, Gifhorn’s first district councilor. This is reported by NDR 1 Lower Saxony. Vaccination must start early, so Walter. The district wants to start immunizations in early January, also because they are still waiting for data from nursing homes and retirement homes. Something similar can be heard from the Hannover Fire Brigade, which organizes vaccinations in the Hannover region. There, data would have to be requested from around 180 facilities for the elderly. As a professional fire department spokesman said, vaccinations can likely begin Wednesday in two homes.

Scholz: “Complete understanding” of delays

Especially now, between Christmas and New Years, it is a huge challenge for many nursing homes and retirement homes to do the necessary organizational work and obtain the consent of residents, Scholz said. “The goal should be to vaccinate as many people as possible when mobile teams visit the facility. This requires a lot of effort from the employees on site and a certain amount of setup time, which we fully understand.”

Starting in January, the campaign should “continue to gain speed”

According to the ministry, the district of Nienburg and the city of Osnabrück want to vaccinate the first people on Wednesday. According to this, you will receive 1,000 doses from the country the day before. “We assume that the vast majority of rural districts and cities will be able to start vaccines in the first week of January and that the campaign will accelerate across the country,” Scholz said.

The state government asks for patience

But the ministry noted that most people in Lower Saxony still have to be patient. “The 50 vaccination centers will not start operating until the next step in January,” said a statement. Therefore, it is currently not possible to schedule appointments through the state’s immunization hotline: “The state government will communicate the start of appointments well in advance and asks for a little patience.”