The country’s largest vaccination center has opened in Kaunas: up to 10,000 people are expected to be vaccinated per day. people

Next to the Girstutis complex, Kovo 11-osios str. On February 26, the existing newly built ice house due to the pandemic has yet to be officially opened. Currently, they are accompanied by relatives of respectable age of relatives or alone: ​​they are welcomed at the entrance and instructed to complete the necessary documents: questionnaires and consent forms. Those who have processed the documents immediately move to the squares in the arena, where vaccination booths are currently installed instead of ice.

Immediately after vaccination, residents are directed to a 170-seat observatory, where they must spend at least 15 minutes. Patients sitting at a safe distance are supervised by emergency medical personnel on call after the vaccination procedure.

According to Paulius Kibiša, head of the Kaunas Polyclinic, it was decided to open a vaccination center in the ice house after receiving information that the quantities of vaccines delivered will increase significantly in the near future, so the Kaunas Central Post Office , who has been vaccinated. so far, it has gotten too narrow.

“Today, about 2.5 percent have been vaccinated in Kaunas. Populations. If we hope and want to have at least 70 percent. Population, it is clear that vaccination coverage should be increased as much as possible. I can say that this target, 70 percent. The populations, in these places with the capacities that we have, can be fulfilled in 85 days, “the heads of the Kaunas Polyclinic told reporters this Friday.

Per day: up to 10 thousand. vaccinated

According to P. Kibiša, having enough vaccines and starting the vaccination process at full capacity, it would be possible to vaccinate 4-6 thousand people a day here. people, and if private polyclinics participated in the process, up to 10,000.

However, it is not yet known when such vaccination volumes will be reached and when vaccination of Kaunas’ older residents could be completed, as it depends on the vaccine supply.

Private outpatient clinics are currently in coordination and tend to participate in the vaccination process. The Kaunas Polyclinic vaccinates both its own and private patients.

The vaccination center will be made up of a team of 20 doctors, 40 nurses and around ten staff members from the Kaunas City Polyclinic.

According to P. Kibiša, considering that the longest part of the process is the vaccination process itself, when the nurse accepts the patient, a nurse from the Kaunas Vaccination Center will attend to the patients in two booths at the same time.

“In this way, we are creating significantly higher bandwidth,” Kibiša said.

The vaccination center also monitors the entire process in real time: administrators can monitor how many patients are waiting in line, how long it takes to see each person. Based on this data, it is possible to assign staff and plan the work.

There are currently 16 stalls in the palace and the number will double next week.

So far, vaccination has been carried out at the Kaunas Central Post Office and rows of visitors near them have often been vaccinated. With the opening of the vaccination center in the ice house, vaccination will no longer take place at the central post office, and it would be considered to renew it at these facilities in case a large number of people are vaccinated at once.

The process is complicated by the doubts

According to the representatives of the polyclinic, the process is somewhat complicated for people who doubt about vaccines: they do not come after registering, then they change their mind and return to queue. Although they have this right, the coordinators of the vaccination process ask the population not to be distracted.

“We would invite everyone to sign up and vaccinate actively and boldly, and if the decision is made, it would be much easier for us to work and the process would be much faster if the decision does not change,” emphasized Mr. Kibiša. .

Such cases, they say, occur among educators: out of less than 5,000 who were scheduled to be vaccinated, around 4,000 are currently vaccinated and some of those who refuse to return.

“Teachers who previously refused to be vaccinated are currently interested in themselves and are registering for vaccination,” said Kaunas polyclinic vaccination coordinator Justinas Dzidzevičius.

According to him, of about 30 percent of the priority groups not vaccinated, about half are interested in getting vaccinated.

“We see that at the beginning we had more educators who gave up, now every day there are still people who want to be vaccinated and I think the situation is progressing quite well,” said Paulius Keras, deputy director of the Municipal Administration.

The Kaunas Ice Palace, located in the Dainava district, in the vicinity of the Girstutis basin, is easily accessible by public transport, and a 100-person parking lot has been prepared for Kaunas residents arriving by car. There is a wheelchair for the elderly with reduced mobility, and the corridors are served by an elevator.

7.5 thousand in a square meter area, population flows are proportionally distributed and do not mix with each other. Kaunas residents enter the vaccination center through one entrance and exit through another. Red Cross volunteers help visitors get their bearings.