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Hamburg (dpa / lno) - While Hamburg is preparing for the upcoming corona lockdown, the city's vaccination center is ready for use.
The construction of the center in the exhibition halls was finished on schedule, said the spokesman for the health authority, Martin Helfrich, of the German press agency.
"This creates the prerequisites for starting corona vaccinations immediately as soon as the appropriate vaccines are available."
With the completion on schedule, Hamburg adheres to the schedule agreed in the federal government and now has the necessary infrastructure “to carry out several thousand vaccinations per day”.
The center, which has a modular structure and is operated by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, should enable up to 7,000 vaccinations per day at its peak.
It has not yet been determined when operations can begin.
"Both the time and the quantitative availability of the vaccine are crucial for this - and also the group of people to be vaccinated," said Helfrich.
Since risk groups are initially to be vaccinated in nursing homes, for example, “after the vaccines have been approved and delivered, decentralized vaccinations will also play an important role in the foreseeable future”.
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Vaccines would be "gradually available," said Health Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD) of the dpa.
"At the beginning, probably only to a very limited extent, and over the course of the year for more and more people."
The fact that there would be a corona vaccination so soon "would not have been thought possible a few months ago by many".
From this Tuesday, members of a corona risk group can receive FFP2 masks free of charge.
According to the pharmacists' association, protective masks will initially be issued in the city's 400 or so pharmacies in a step-by-step process.
FFP2 masks are particularly effective at filtering particles, but also do not offer 100% protection against infection.
The Federal Ministry of Health is assuming costs of 2.5 billion euros and around 27 million beneficiaries across Germany.
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"This affects people over 60, for example, asthmatics or those with heart disease," said the managing director of the Hamburg pharmacists' association, Thomas Friedrich.
In Hamburg there are around 600,000 people.
One day before the lockdown, Hamburgers also have their last shopping opportunity this year: on Tuesday, the shops beyond daily needs open for the last time.
The shutdown will come into effect on Wednesday and all shops will have to close by January 10th.
Only grocery stores, pharmacies, kiosks and other shops for daily needs are allowed to open further.