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Berlin / Düsseldorf (dpa) - Because of the delayed delivery of the corona vaccine from Biontech, North Rhine-Westphalia is postponing the start of vaccinations for people over 80 who live at home.

The 53 vaccination centers in the state will only start operating on February 8th - a week later than previously planned, as a spokesman for the NRW Ministry of Health said on Wednesday at the request of the German Press Agency.

The country also imposed an immediate vaccination ban on hospitals supplied with Biontech vaccine.

The reason for this is the delivery delays, according to an email from the Ministry of Health, which the German Press Agency has received.

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Due to short-term renovations in a bottling plant, the manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer will deliver significantly less vaccine than planned in the coming week.

Therefore, the state government must adjust the further vaccination plans, said a spokesman.

A little more vaccine is planned for the countries this week, but significantly less next week, as a new delivery schedule from Biontech shows.

From the beginning of February, however, the number of doses should be above plan, as the Federal Ministry of Health explained on Tuesday.

The reason for this is that six instead of five vaccine doses can now be taken from one ampoule.

The federal and state governments had criticized the short-term information on this.

The chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference, Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller, called for more predictability in deliveries.

"The most important thing, especially in the first few weeks, is reliability," said the SPD politician on Tuesday evening after the federal-state consultations in Berlin.

The system of invitations to the vaccination centers is based on the delivery dates.

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According to a joint decision, “a planning horizon of six weeks is desirable”.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) stressed that everything would be done to be able to offer all citizens a vaccination offer by the end of the summer.

This also depends on planning security for vaccine deliveries.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210120-99-95850 / 2