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One thing is clear: it won't be cozy.

The pictures that were published on Twitter of the construction of the rehearsal areas for the vaccination center in the Berlin exhibition center do not exude any charm.

The booth builders have at least provided some color with a few yellow and orange stripes.

But this is not supposed to be about creating quality of stay.

Anyone who wants to vaccinate thousands of people every day is better off making sure that the processes run smoothly and that everyone is out again quickly.

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The vaccination centers for the upcoming corona vaccination are currently being built nationwide.

Their number is well above the original plan of around 60.

As a rule, one vaccination center is set up per district or city.

In the big cities there are often more.

In North Rhine-Westphalia alone there should be at least 53 according to a survey by the Evangelical Press Service.

In Bavaria they are even planning at 96. Berlin is building six, while Hamburg is only building one, which should, however, manage a maximum of 7,000 vaccinations per person.

Everything should be ready for use in mid-December.

Time is running out.

Because on December 11th, the European Medicines Agency for the vaccine of the companies Biontech / Pfizer will hold a public hearing.

Approval could then follow.

The first doses could then be ready within a few days.

Because the production has been running for months on stock and also at the risk of no approval.

The allocation of the initially scarce doses is based on the population.

Berlin, for example, would get 900,000;

as it has to be vaccinated twice, 450,000 people benefited.

Saxony-Anhalt receives 130,000 cans.

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But who receives it?

A paradigm shift has taken place here in the past few days.

As a result, it means that the previous recommendations of the experts advising the federal government will be abandoned.

The Standing Vaccination Commission, the German Ethics Council and the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences declared on November 9th that priority should be given to vaccinating vulnerable groups.

The chairman of the ethics council, Alena Buyx, named the first vaccination goal the "prevention of severe courses".

This would mean prioritizing people of old age, poor health and residents in nursing homes.

As a second group, she named those “who stand by the sick”, ie those who work in the health system.

Source: dpa;

Infographic WORLD / Jörn Baumgarten

The prioritization is now reversed.

On Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) said in her government statement: “It is possible that vaccines will arrive before Christmas.

We have agreed that these vaccines will then be offered to people who work in the medical and nursing fields and that they will be the first to have access to them.

I think that corresponds to the risk these people will take. "

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At the cabinet breakfast on Wednesday there was talk of vaccinating the group of high-risk patients and the hospital staff in parallel.

"It may be that vaccines will arrive before Christmas"

The federal and state governments have agreed to tighten the corona measures in December and relax them over Christmas.

Angela Merkel explains the new resolutions in the Bundestag.

See her government statement in full here.

There are several reasons why the policy deviates from the recommendations.

The experts take their time.

The vaccine will most likely be available sooner than the final priority list.

When asked by WELT, the Standing Vaccination Commission at the Robert Koch Institute confirmed that this list should not be ready until the end of the year, after Christmas.

Regarding the statements of the Chancellor, it says: “We do not know the quote from Ms. Merkel and cannot give any assessment.

In principle, medical personnel is an important group of the population, this is taken into account when prioritizing. "

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Politicians are apparently becoming impatient.

“Corona sets the pace, not politics.

When we have the vaccination, it is necessary to speed up the process.

As soon as a significant amount of the vaccine is available, we need clarity as to who can be vaccinated in which order, ”says CSU General Secretary Markus Blume.

The background is also two considerations that show the enormous challenges the country is currently facing.

For one thing, the government doesn't want to risk the vaccine being approved and the infrastructure not yet in place to start vaccinating immediately.

“I have asked the federal states that the planned vaccination centers will be ready for use by mid-December.

That seems to be working.

I would rather have a vaccination center that is ready to start and that is still out of order for a few days than an approved vaccine that is not used immediately, ”said Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) at the beginning of the week.

Scarce resource personnel

The Biontech vaccine is not so easy to use because of the cooling temperature of minus 70 degrees.

The hospitals have such facilities, at least to a limited extent.

By putting doctors and nurses first, the government is reducing the risk of images of empty vaccination centers after the vaccine is approved.

The corresponding political signal would be devastating.

Politicians choose “the easiest start,” according to a member of the cabinet.

Because the clinics are prepared.

In many places, internal surveys have been made to find out who is ready to be vaccinated.

According to the Minister of Health of Saxony-Anhalt, Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD), numerous clinics have already offered to vaccinate their staff themselves.

That should apply everywhere.

The second consideration has to do with the scarcity of human resources.

The more patients come to hospitals because of a severe Covid-19 course, the more important it becomes that there are enough people to look after them.

In addition, doctors also work in the planned vaccination centers.

In the meantime, even staff with Covid-19 continue to work.

"The truth is: Without this exception, in some regions in Germany, in some hospitals and geriatric care facilities, care would not be possible today," says Spahn.

What you need to know about vaccine for the masses

It is one of the means that the EU has high hopes for.

The effectiveness of the vaccine from Astra Zeneca is less than that of the competition, but it still has a decisive advantage over the mRNA vaccines.

Source: WORLD / Laura Fritsch

The government wants to end this situation by prioritizing the medical staff for the corona vaccination.

Ultimately, this also benefits all those who have to wait longer for a corona vaccination and otherwise get sick.

For the high-risk group, however, the news means that many of them may have to wait longer.

If everyone working in the medical field, including the administration, were to be vaccinated, that would be around five million people.