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Zurich Health Director Natalie Rickli (44, SVP) took advantage of the visit of Federal Councilor Alain Berset (48) to complain. Zurich is at a disadvantage, he said last Tuesday after meeting with the health minister at Zurich airport. The largest canton in Switzerland receives fewer doses of vaccines from the federal government than it is entitled to.
An accusation that the Department of Ricklis has been repeating for more than a month. But the claim is unfounded. This is demonstrated by the figures that the health department is now issuing at BLICK’s request.
The distribution key is public
At the end of January, Rickli justified the slow start of vaccination in Zurich by claiming that the canton was being treated unfairly by distributing the vaccine. At that time, the exact distribution key according to which the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) assigned the vaccination doses to the cantons was not public. The public could not verify if what Zurich says is true. The BAG never denied it either.
But things have changed now. At the beginning of February, BAG made the distribution key public: Zurich is entitled to 16.75 percent of the vaccine doses available throughout Switzerland. As announced by the Zurich Health Directorate upon request, the canton had received 217,000 doses of vaccines as of yesterday.
It is not the total population that is decisive
That corresponds to a 16.6 percent share. Therefore, there cannot be a serious disadvantage. The deviation of 0.15 percentage points (less than 2000 doses of vaccine) can be explained by the logistics of the vaccine: because the Biontech vaccine is administered in batches of 975 units, for example, which cannot be separated, the small cantons receive relatively more doses than they actually would. have a right to. For example, Uri would only be entitled to about 4,600 doses of vaccine, but he received almost 5,000.
Zurich, on the other hand, claims to SEE that you are entitled to 17.9 percent of all available vaccine doses, which corresponds to the proportion of Zurich residents in the total population of Switzerland. The vice-presidential councilman for the government, Rickli, expects an incorrect comparison value. Because the distribution key, this has been known for a long time, it is not only based on the number of inhabitants, but, in fairness, it also takes into account how many people at risk live in a canton.
The key was calculated by the BAG with the two universities ETH Zurich and ZHAW. As soon as it is their turn to vaccinate other priority groups, the distribution key will also be adjusted, then also in favor of Zurich.
Zurich is bothered by communication
Given this, the health department goes round and round: “It is crucial that the FOPH communication measures the progress of vaccination in terms of the total population,” says spokeswoman Lina Lanz. Therefore, according to the canton’s point of view, the vaccine should also be distributed accordingly. “Otherwise, the canton of Zurich will be at a disadvantage.” Ricklis Departement also claims that the distribution key is “incomprehensible”. You are in contact with BAG about this.
It is clear from the end of 2020 how the distribution key is calculated. At least publicly, no other canton criticizes it.
No registration tool yet
Suspicion arises that Zurich wants to distract itself from its own problems with criticism of Berset and his vaccination management. Many older people are upset that they are still waiting for a date. Unlike other cantons, not everyone over 75 is vaccinated in Zurich. That increases the pressure on the authorities.
Due to its population, Zurich faces a great challenge with the corona vaccination campaign. But not everything can be attributed solely to the number of inhabitants. For example, while everyone in Bern or Aargau can pre-register online, the TI tool in Zurich still doesn’t work. The software that the federal government made available to the cantons collapsed under the massive onslaught at the beginning of the year. An alternative should not be available in Zurich until the end of March. After wanting to build their own IT solution, the canton now wants to rely on Bern’s software.
BAG is still waiting for data
Due to the lack of an IT solution, Zurich still does not provide the FOPH with detailed data on vaccinations carried out, although the cantons have been obliged to do so for two weeks.
Zurich is no exception. More than half of the cantons are still unable to automatically transmit the required data, for example the age or sex of the person vaccinated. “We are in contact with the interested cantons and we are looking together for solutions to ensure the flow of data as quickly as possible,” said the BAG.
The differences between the cantons are great when it comes to vaccination. In Zurich, at the end of last week, just under 8 doses of vaccine had been vaccinated for every 100 inhabitants; just under 9 percent of high-risk people had already been fully vaccinated. In Nidwalden, on the other hand, almost twice as many doses of vaccine were injected, so that one in four high-risk people has already received both doses of vaccine.
In general, the small cantons are ahead of the large ones. In many cases, they are done with vaccinations in nursing homes.
The plan would be for anyone who wants to be able to get vaccinated at the end of June. While Federal Councilor Alain Berset (48, SP) continues to believe in the goal, Zurich Health Director Natalie Rickli (44, SVP) is more pessimistic due to vaccine shortages. He doesn’t think vaccines will be finished before summer vacation.
Lucerne, for example, has adjusted its vaccination schedule. A month ago he stated that “probably from March” people between 65 and 74 years old will be vaccinated, now the talk is “May / June at the earliest”.
