Corona vaccination Hamburg: "When it starts, the turning point has been reached"

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Basically, the Hamburg vaccination center works like an airport.

The citizen receives an appointment, enters the building and is directed from the check-in counter with the relevant documents in a one-way system and through various modules to check-in.

"And then," says the chairman of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Walter Plassmann, "there is the only big difference: In the end, there is no airplane, but a doctor with a syringe."

Hamburg is spending several million euros in its central vaccination center in exhibition hall A3, located in the middle of the city and measuring 12,000 square meters.

This means that the city-state on the Elbe is very well prepared for the upcoming corona vaccinations, emphasized Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) when visiting the vaccination center on Thursday.

Everything will be ready "so that we could start on December 15th, when there is a vaccine that is approved in Germany".

Then, according to Health Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD), citizens can assume that this vaccine has "been tested for effectiveness, safety and tolerance".

Hamburg's central vaccination center is to consist of seven modules that can also be put into operation individually, structurally and spatially independently of one another.

Each module consists of eight vaccination boxes.

The one-way system should ensure the necessary distances.

According to the health authority, around 7,000 people can be vaccinated every day when the facility is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week and at full capacity.

Hamburg and the federal government share the costs.

According to Tschentscher, 250,000 vaccine doses per day could be inoculated nationwide.

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The mayor expressed the hope that the first doses of vaccine will be available later this year.

When exactly Hamburg can expect how many vaccine doses it is still unclear and also depends on the approval.

Accordingly, the EU Commission is said to have secured 200 million Biontech vaccination doses with the option of 100 million more.

After the approval of the corona vaccine, up to 100 million vaccine doses will be available in Germany and distributed among the federal states according to the population.

In a first delivery, presumably in December, Hamburg is likely to receive tens of thousands of vaccine doses, Leonhard said on Tuesday in the state press conference.

In an interview with the editorial network Germany, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) said in November: "If all manufacturers with whom we have agreed contracts and options via the EU Commission or bilaterally, we will get more than 300 million vaccine doses for Germany . “Even with two doses per vaccination, the Federal Republic would have enough for its own population and could share it with other countries.

Spahn: “But as I said, that describes the best case scenario.

We don't know which vaccine really works and how.

And we don't yet know how long the immunity will last. "

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According to Health Senator Leonhard, who is vaccinated first is regulated by nationwide law and is based on the recommendations of the independent Standing Vaccination Commission at the Robert Koch Institute.

After a vaccine has been approved, it will present specific recommendations for precise prioritization.

“The sequence is already laid out a little in the Civil Protection Act,” says Leonhard.

According to this, employees from the healthcare sector and personnel in the critical infrastructure from police officers to employees of utility companies should first be vaccinated, followed by risk groups and people who are interested in a corona vaccination.

According to Leonhard, the exact registration procedure will be announced in good time.

The persons authorized according to the nationwide regulation can register in different ways.

The eligibility for vaccination is checked.

A procedure for making appointments by app and telephone is in preparation.

“It is likely that two vaccination appointments will be required at an interval of three to four weeks,” says Tschentscher.

Mobile teams are to vaccinate residents of nursing homes

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According to Plassmann, vaccinations without registration or spontaneous vaccinations in the central vaccination center are not possible.

The eligibility for vaccination will be checked again at the appointment, for example with the identity card, an employer certificate or a medical certificate.

The vaccinations themselves are carried out by around 200 resident doctors in a two-shift system.

A total of up to 600 people will be employed in Hamburg's vaccination center, including pharmacists, pharmaceutical-technical assistants as well as administrative, security and logistics staff.

Since initially only a few vaccine application doses will be available, a targeted, highly prioritized vaccination is required.

In Hamburg, vaccinations are therefore carried out in the first phase in addition to the stationary vaccination center in the exhibition halls in two other ways: On the one hand, around 20 mobile teams - provided a vaccine that can be transported - should vaccinate residents of care facilities.

On the other hand, it should be possible for personnel who work in medical facilities to be vaccinated directly at the workplace.

Only when sufficient vaccines and different types of vaccines are available will comprehensive vaccination be possible in the second phase.

As soon as the framework conditions allow and sufficient quantities of vaccine with suitable storage conditions are available, the 2000 to 2500 family doctor practices located in Hamburg will take over the vaccine distribution, as the chairman of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Plassmann, announced.

A point in time for the start of this phase is currently not foreseeable.

As soon as the general practitioners are involved in the vaccination process, Mayor Tschentscher inevitably expects the vaccination rate to increase.

"My hope is that in the end it will go faster than many currently assume," said the Social Democrat.

The more effective a vaccine is, the lower the percentage of people who need to be vaccinated.

"We will only be able to answer in a few months whether we will be adequately protected against renewed epidemic waves in the next year," says Tschentscher.

However, from the point of view of the trained laboratory doctor, every percentage point in the vaccination rate helps to stabilize the balance between measures and the risk of virus infection.

Because if you meet a vaccinated person in the future, the chain of infection will be broken.

“Well,” adds Tschentscher, “when the corona vaccination starts, the turning point has been reached.” Then it will be easier for us day by day, week by week, month by month.

"I am optimistic that we have the longest time of uncertainty and severe restrictions behind us," says Hamburg's mayor.