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The start of corona mass vaccinations in Germany's medical practices can be delayed until mid-April.
The goal is to start as soon as possible, but no later than the week of April 19.
The federal and state health ministers decided on Wednesday after three hours of video consultation.
Individual countries can therefore also declare an “opt-out” and not yet routinely vaccinate in the doctor's offices in April.
In addition, a new vaccination ordinance should bring more speed to the vaccination campaign.
The vaccine from the manufacturer Astrazeneca, which was previously reserved for younger people, can now be injected to everyone.
Deviating from the vaccination sequence, all people can be vaccinated at the borders with corona hotspots abroad.
The existing vaccination centers should continue to administer at least 2.25 million vaccinations per week in parallel, it said.
The vaccine that is also available should be made available to doctors' practices.
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"In order to be able to meet the request of the federal states to use their vaccination centers to capacity as before, the medical practices will probably only start in mid-April," said the Federal Ministry of Health.
In the three-hour deliberations, the federal and state governments agreed “that the medical practices should also be included in the vaccination campaign as soon as possible,” the Federal Ministry said.
"But this also requires a certain minimum weekly amount of vaccine."
The start of the vaccination in the family doctor's practices was initially scheduled for the beginning of April on Monday.
At noon, government spokesman Steffen Seibert announced that Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the state premiers would decide on the exact date based on the recommendations of the health ministers' conference.
After three hours of deliberations, the ministers then agreed on the 16th calendar week or earlier - "should the delivery quantities of the manufacturers still to be specified allow it for April".
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Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) dampened expectations of the vaccination start in the practices.
"The vaccination amounts will not grow to 20 million a month or even 10 million a week," he said on ZDF.
In April there will be significantly more vaccinations, but not yet on this scale.
The next step would then be vaccinations in companies by company doctors.
"Vaccine is and will remain the bottleneck in everything"
The chairman of the conference of health ministers, Bavaria's head of department Klaus Holetschek (CSU), pointed out persistent bottlenecks in vaccine deliveries after the deliberations.
"It must be clear to everyone: the vaccine is and will remain the bottleneck in everything," he explained.
"Especially in the initial phase in April, there will not be enough vaccine available for doctors across the country to get off to a flying start."
But if the deliveries “come as the federal government has promised us, then we can quickly ramp up the doctors' vaccinations,” explained Holetschek.
"This means that our system is fully operational as soon as the vaccine flows in large streams." The first doctors should be involved in the vaccinations from the beginning of April, after which the offer should be expanded "step by step".
According to Holetschek, the prioritization specified in the Corona Vaccination Ordinance continues to apply to vaccinations in doctor's practices: "In April, doctors are encouraged to vaccinate primarily immobile patients in their own home and people with serious previous illnesses."