Corona Vaccine – Only one thing dampens the joy of vaccination in ALT homes. The Great Hope is only available in small quantities

Syou’ve already survived a lot here in the north of Hamburg. For more than 800 years, the elderly and those in need of care have spent their retirement years in the zum Heiligen Geist Hospital, the most traditional nursing home in the Hanseatic city. Neither the plague nor the cholera allowed them to go down. The coronavirus, Frank Schubert, the head of the hospital, has firmly resolved that it will not succeed either.

And because that’s the way it is, a small queue forms in front of the hospital’s party room this Sunday shortly after eleven o’clock: wheelchair users, employees, residents over 80 years old. Everyone wants to be the first to get vaccinated here: premiere of BNT-162b2, Mainz’s anti-corona vaccine. For Frank Schubert, the most beautiful “Christmas present” by far.

At the national level, the great vaccination began this Sunday after the festival. The 16 federal states each received 9,750 doses of vaccination; only Bremen, the small city-state, had to be satisfied with about half the vaccine doses. It takes two to protect a person from a Covid 19 infection.

The timely delivery, transport and supply of sensitive vaccine is a logistical service, where it is important to ensure that it remains frozen as long as possible and, if possible, that it is not agitated. In Upper Franconia and Augsburg, for example, the start of vaccination was delayed because it was initially unclear whether the cold chain could be maintained.

Vaccination itself, as the otolaryngologist Dirk Heinrich, who is responsible for vaccines, explains in Hamburg is a rather banal process: puncturing the deltoid muscle of the upper arm. Injection, cotton pad, plaster. Finished. Nothing but a flu or travel shot.

Only this time it is not only about the health of the individual, but also about the integrity of the whole country, Europe, the world. Then it has to work.

In this sense, it is not surprising that, in addition to dozens of journalists and camera crews, some prime ministers also appeared in front of the elderly and care facilities selected for the vaccination premieres.

“For the first time actively facing the pandemic”

In Hamburg, for example, Peter Tschentscher (SPD) arrived. The first mayor of Hamburg, a trained doctor, has made a name for himself in recent weeks as a warning and explainer of the crown’s measures.

This morning he feeds hope above all: he is very happy, says the Social Democrat, that the city and the countryside are now “actively facing the pandemic for the first time”; that the first step is to offer help primarily to those “who may become particularly seriously ill.”

As everywhere in Germany, people over 80 are vaccinated first in Hamburg. For the head of the hospital, Schubert, this decision was “a great relief”.

In Corona’s final months, he almost had to expand the traditional house in Hamburg’s Poppenbüttel district to turn it into a kind of fortress – all entrances to the spacious complex are closed. Stop signs urgently warn against unannounced entry into houses. The large signs remind the observance of hygiene rules: “Mutual contact”, for example, “must be kept to a minimum”.

In addition, pre-registration, disinfection, rapid tests, strict rules of conduct. The Hospital del Espíritu Santo has done almost everything possible and impossible to keep the virus out. Of course, Covid-19 did it anyway.

Currently, Schubert reports, 20 residents of the residential complex are infected with the corona virus; some of them would need hospital treatment. Ten residents of the Hospital del Espíritu Santo have died of or with Corona in recent months. Basically, however, the entire facility, 1,200 residents, and 900 employees are hostages to the pandemic.

According to Schubert, the character of the house was “open to the neighborhood.” Instead, one has had to strictly shut down since last March, isolate oneself from the rest of the world. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, there was near death silence in the hospital area. No events, no visits, no zest for life, enormous stress for all employees.

Hope is greater now. And with it the pressure on vaccine manufacturers and politicians.

“The limiting factor is the vaccine”

As much as mayors and prime ministers try this Sunday, none of them can hide the fact that there are too few vaccines to truly contain the pandemic, at least for now. The large vaccination centers that the federal states have built on the ground in recent weeks are initially empty.

In Hamburg, for example, at some point 7,000 doses of vaccination per day will be distributed at the fairgrounds. The vaccination center is scheduled to go into operation in January. According to the Hamburg Senate, the simple vaccination of particularly threatened groups will last until the end of February. “The limiting factor,” as Mayor Tschentscher sums up the current situation, “is the vaccine.” Unfortunately, the great hope is only available in small quantities at the moment.

Therefore, Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD), Tschentscher’s counterpart in Bremen, has already called for the creation of new production facilities for approved vaccines after the premiere of vaccination in his Hanseatic city. When in doubt, the state must offer the companies involved “additional incentives,” Bovenschulte said in an interview with WELT.

Bavarian Prime Minister Marcus Söder (CSU) had previously noted that the “endless wait” for the vaccine could reduce the population’s willingness to get vaccinated. Therefore, it is important to increase all capacities for the production of the vaccine ”.

A lawsuit that Renate Meyer-Werle, 79, Bärbel Kukelies, 83, and Helene Brinkmann, 83, would certainly support. The three seniors, residents of senior apartments at the Hospital del Espíritu Santo, are not yet on their way to get vaccinated on this opening day, but they are excitedly poking around in front of the grand ballroom of their facility that has become a center. vaccination.

Here at Poppenbüttel you don’t eat such a casserole every day; And by the way, all three are looking forward to the time after the pandemic. “Traveling” for example, but above all “finally being able to hug everyone again”. Over the course of this week, the three energetic women are still awaiting their vaccination and making a lofty and holy promise that “we won’t exaggerate later.