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In central Switzerland and Appenzell Innerrhoden, the first residents of nursing homes and nursing homes were vaccinated. Less than half participated in one place.
A 90-year-old woman in a nursing home in Lucerne is the first in Switzerland to receive the corona vaccine.
Photo: Urs Flüeler (Keystone)
It all started with the canton of Lucerne on Wednesday morning. In a home for the elderly and retirees in a rural community, a 90-year-old woman was the first in Switzerland to be vaccinated against Covid-19 with the Pfizer / Biontech vaccine. Like other cantons, the canton of Lucerne received part of the first delivery of 107,000 doses of vaccine to Switzerland. Lucerne Health Director Guido Graf said he was very pleased that it was possible to start before Christmas.
In Innerrhoden, the vaccination campaign also started on Wednesday at a home for the elderly and pensioners in Appenzell. Of the more than 80 residents, just under half would have wanted a vaccine, said canton deputy doctor Markus Köppel. “It’s not exactly what you want it to be.” However, assume that some will continue to wait, discuss the matter with family members, and get vaccinated later.
“They just want to get vaccinated because they know the danger of the disease.”
A few days ago, neighbors were informed about the vaccination and asked about their willingness to get vaccinated. Some would not have had a great need for information. “They just want to get vaccinated because they know the risk of the disease,” says Köppel. Immediately before vaccination, residents were asked again and had to confirm their consent with a signature. In the case of very old people, the signature of family members or counselor may be required. And anyone who has a severe fever or is sick with the coronavirus cannot get vaccinated.
Several cantons are starting
The vaccines were administered by a doctor at the Appenzell Cantonal Hospital. Residents of the home will receive the second necessary injection in three to four weeks. Then it takes another week until the protection of the vaccine is fully established. The rest of the 50 doses delivered will be administered on Thursday in a smaller retirement home in the middle of the canton. According to Köppel, the nursing staff have not yet been vaccinated. However, if there were any doses left, I would offer them to the staff; otherwise, the vaccine would expire.
As in Lucerne, a mobile vaccination team was also used in Appenzell Innerrhoden. Pfizer / Biontech’s Covid-19 vaccine poses a number of logistical challenges: It must be stored and transported at minus 70 degrees. In order to inject it, the vaccine must be thawed. Vaccination doses can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Hospital pharmacist Julia Egger of Cantonal Hospital Nidwalden in Stans020 receives a first delivery of the vaccine from Pfizer Biontech.
Photo: Urs Flüeler (Keystone)
Test runs for the vaccination campaign
The first vaccinations in individual cantons are evidence of the largest vaccination campaign in Swiss history. For example, the federal government wants to determine how long vaccination takes per person. “It is good that we participated in the pilot,” Markus Schmidli, the doctor in charge of Appenzell Hospital, told the SDA news agency. Handling the new vaccine is not that easy. That is why it is important to train people well.
In Nidwalden, around 100 elderly people were also vaccinated on Wednesday, as announced by the State Chancellery.
Fortunately, the vast majority have agreed to be vaccinated, the health director Michèle Blöchliger (SVP) is quoted in the message. The first residents of nursing homes in the cantons of Zug and Schwyz also received the vaccine.
In the other cantons, the vaccination campaign will start soon: in Basel, the first seniors will be vaccinated next Monday, in Zurich the outgoing vaccine will be given on January 4, in Bern on January 11.
