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It begins on December 27, then the first particularly vulnerable people in Germany will be vaccinated against Corona. The Bundeswehr will also play an important role in the vaccination campaign. But what exactly?
By Kai Küstner, ARD capital studio
In the vigilant position under the Christmas tree, for many soldiers, this will be quite an unusual holiday: the troops have increased the readiness of thousands of members of the Bundeswehr, especially due to the upcoming vaccinations. Now they can be called within 48 or even 24 hours, in case they are needed on short notice in the next few days.
At the Federal Ministry of Defense, it is expected that up to 6,500 additional soldiers could be deployed for the next vaccines, although not all at once.
The Bundeswehr is already involved in the creation of vaccination centers. But it should only really be challenged once operations have actually started there.
Bundeswehr to store the vaccine
According to plans, large numbers of soldiers will be needed at the many civilian vaccination centers and will support the mobile vaccination teams. Everything is conceivable: from the Bundeswehr doctor who leads the clarification talk or places the syringe, to the assistant in the camouflage place who organizes mass vaccinations in the most fluid way possible.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also offered the Bundeswehr to help with vaccine storage and logistics. Therefore, it is quite possible that the active ingredients are stored in barracks. However, this is not a minor challenge. Because the initially approved Pfizer Biontech vaccine must be kept at a temperature of at least 70 degrees for a long time.
On the other hand, there are fears that the vaccine could attract both criminals and crown deniers. As a precautionary measure, the troops are silent on which locations are theoretically possible. The advantage: Protected properties in the Bundeswehr are likely to be much more secure as storage facilities than conventional sports halls, for example.
20,000 soldiers fight Corona
It was also speculated that the soldiers could control the transportation of the valuable vaccine doses. However, this should only be reserved for the police. The legal obstacles to such an armed deployment of the army in the interior would be extremely high.
Never before in its history has the Bundeswehr been as involved in the so-called “home front” as it was in this Crown year: in total, it mobilized 20,000 soldiers to help civilian agencies fight the pandemic. About half of them, that is 10,000, are currently involved and support the health authorities in monitoring the chains of infection, perform swabs in corona testing centers or help in the elderly and nursing homes. Now a large-scale vaccination operation could be added.
