Coronavirus: The nursing home residents should be "vaccinated" by mid-February

display

A month ago the first Hamburg residents were vaccinated in a retirement home in Hamburg, a sign of hope at the time, as Hamburg's mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) said.

But actually progress was very slow from then on - instead of administering 7,000 vaccinations a day in the center set up for this purpose in the exhibition halls alone, the number is just in the four-digit range, sometimes even less.

After four weeks, only two percent or just under 40,000 of Hamburgers have been vaccinated, but most of them have only been vaccinated once, as Julia Offen, deputy spokeswoman for the Senate, announced on Tuesday.

If things continued at this pace, Hamburg would be occupied with this topic for almost two years.

But again the principle of hope comes into play, because after the low vaccine deliveries in recent times, new material from Biontech / Pfizer is expected to come soon, 17,500 doses are expected every week.

In the past week, only 11,000 cans arrived.

In addition, there is the vaccine from the manufacturer Moderna, which is sent directly to the clinics in smaller batches.

After all: According to Offen, all residents and willing employees in the nursing homes should be vaccinated by mid-February.

Presumably at the beginning of next week, the responsible social welfare authority will then again assign appointments via the central number 116177.

Lately there had been a lot of expressions of displeasure, especially from older sections of the population.

Unlike in Schleswig-Holstein, where the state government wants to present a relaxation schedule based on incidence values, Hamburg does not want to formulate any automatisms.

Tschentscher had already determined this last week and it should stay that way, so open.

The situation in the intensive care units is still very tense, and the development around the coronavirus mutations also gives no reason to deviate from the cautious Hamburg route.

Even with a view to February 14 - on that day the currently valid containment ordinance ends - from today's perspective it is not necessarily about easing.

Means: Presumably the current regulations will be continued and, at best, changed in parts such as the school.

Incidence value drops slightly

display

Specifically, the number of new corona infections confirmed in Hamburg has decreased further in a weekly comparison.

206 new cases were added on Tuesday, the health authority announced.

That is 5 cases more than on Monday, but 45 fewer than on Tuesday a week ago.

The incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days, fell from 97.0 to 94.6.

A week ago this value was 104.2.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the number of people who died from or with corona in Hamburg has increased by 2 since Monday to a total of 990. According to information from the health authority, 459 corona patients were treated as inpatients in Hamburg's hospitals as of Monday 100 in intensive care units.

On Friday there were 455 patients in total and 101 in intensive care.

Back to the exhibition halls: three weeks after the central vaccination center went into operation there, the first second vaccinations were administered on Tuesday.

Initially, 500 appointments per day are planned for this, so that, including the 500 first vaccinations, one now wants to get 1,000 vaccinations a day, said a spokesman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, which operates the center for the city.

The center is designed for up to 7000 vaccinations per day.

Because of the scarce vaccine, only part of it is currently in operation.

Since January 5th, people over 80 and employees of the care services have been called to get vaccinated at the center.

According to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, around 11,000 initial doses had been administered there by Monday.

Appointments for first and second vaccinations are already booked up until mid-February.

Due to a delivery bottleneck at the vaccine manufacturers, no new ones are currently being awarded.

The second doses are retained in Hamburg when the first vaccination is given, so that it is ensured that those vaccinated for the first time can also receive a second injection after three weeks.

Experts assume that a first vaccination only provides around 50 percent protection.

According to the manufacturer, the specified efficiency of over 90 percent is only achieved with the administration of the second dose.

display

The Hamburg virologist Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit from the Bernhard Nocht Institute meanwhile assumes that the corona pandemic will last even longer despite the vaccine.

"Anyone who says we have got through everything by summer at the latest and the immunity is there, sets unrealistic goals - and provokes frustration," he told the "Hamburger Abendblatt".

Vaccination is an important component, but distance, hygiene, masks, ventilation, testing and the protection of risk groups remain just as important.

In order to be able to better protect the over 80-year-olds from infection, Schmidt-Chanasit pleaded for the use of the Bundeswehr, the technical relief organization and volunteers.

“It costs something, but compared to the billions in bridging aid, it is affordable.

We now have so many simple and quick test options that we can only allow those with negative tests to enter endangered areas: then nursing homes or old people's homes are very safe. ”If you could then prevent 60, 70 or 80 percent of deaths, a lot would be achieved .

Old life "gradually comes closer"

Schmidt-Chanasit assumes that society will gradually come closer to “the old life” this year.

“I firmly believe that in 2022 we will only need very few restrictions.

But we would have regained a lot of our old life if the daycare centers, schools and shops were to reopen and the clubs were allowed to do sports again. "

Test center in the citizenry

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, a corona test center will also be set up in the Hamburg citizenship.

Already at the meeting this Wednesday and until further notice, all participants in plenary days have the opportunity to do a rapid antigen test, as announced by the President of the Parliament, Carola Veit (SPD).

"I ask you very much that you take up the offer in order to minimize the risk of infection for everyone involved in the meeting and thus to contribute to the fact that the citizens remain able to work", she wrote to all members of the parliament, staff and journalists.

"The testing is voluntary and at the expense of the citizenry." Because of the pandemic, the citizenry has been meeting since last year with a reduced number of MPs instead of in the plenary hall in the great ballroom of the town hall, where larger distances can be maintained and dividing discs between the seats of the MPs To minimize the risk of infection.