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In order to enable a smooth organization of the first NATO summit with the new US President Joe Biden, around 3,500 employees in the Brussels alliance headquarters are being vaccinated against Corona prematurely.

According to information from the German Press Agency (dpa), medical staff started injecting the vaccine on Thursday.

The first round of vaccinations should be completed this Saturday evening.

June 14 is currently being considered as the date for the first NATO summit with Biden.

The immunization of NATO personnel can take place because Poland, despite the shortage of vaccines in its own country, declares itself ready to provide the total of around 7,000 necessary doses.

The NATO host country Belgium did not want to deviate from the normal vaccination sequence.

According to her, the vaccinations at NATO headquarters would not have been vaccinated until next month at the earliest.

In Belgium currently only people who are over 65 years of age, work in medical care or have certain health problems, for example, are vaccinated.

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The government in Warsaw justified the vaccine delivery with the importance of NATO for the country and with the comparatively small number of doses required for the alliance headquarters.

The first 3,500 vaccines from the manufacturer Astrazeneca are said to correspond to less than one percent of the amount of vaccine that the country received this week.

At the same time, however, figures published by the EU show that comparatively many people have recently died of or with Covid-19 in Poland.

Per one million inhabitants, more than 100 corona deaths were counted within 14 days.

In Belgium or Germany, for example, there were only around 30 each.

Opposition points to nursing home residents

Because of this, criticism has come from the Polish opposition.

MEP Michal Szczerba from the KO citizen coalition wrote on Twitter that there are still residents of nursing homes in Poland who have not been vaccinated.

“The government is making a showcase campaign by sending doctors and vaccination doses to NATO headquarters.

A nice gesture, but first vaccinate the elderly and sick people in Poland. "

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The German Bundestag member Jürgen Trittin made a similar statement.

"It is surprising that, given the persistent shortage of vaccines, Poland is putting the protection of its own particularly vulnerable citizens on hold for a PR campaign," said the Green politician of the German press agency.

Other German politicians meanwhile showed understanding.

The FDP member of the Bundestag, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, said that with the vaccination offer, Poland was making it clear that the upcoming NATO summit would enjoy the highest priority for the government and the people of the country.

This is understandable - on the one hand because the first NATO summit with Biden is of particular importance, on the other hand because the "security-political tension" is higher in Poland than in Germany because of the situation in Ukraine.

The CDU politician Jürgen Hardt commented that holding a NATO summit in Brussels was "extremely important for the security partnership".

In his own words, he could even have accepted that key German personnel at NATO would be vaccinated prematurely with vaccines from Germany.

German delegation receives AstraZeneca

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However, this is not necessary because the members of the German delegation will now be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine from Poland.

If vaccination with a vaccine that is also approved in the EU is possible at the respective place of work according to the requirements there, it is advisable to take advantage of this with a view to individual protection and containment of the global pandemic, the Federal Foreign Office said on this topic.

Meanwhile, neither diplomats nor NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wanted to comment on the question of whether the acceptance of the Polish vaccination offer was not irresponsible to unvaccinated Poles, who have an increased risk of a fatal course of Covid 19 disease.

It was also initially unclear why the vaccine was not provided by countries such as the USA or Great Britain, where much larger parts of the population have already received a corona vaccination.

The decision was made by Poland, which he welcomed, said Stoltenberg when asked.

"I think that shows Poland's commitment to NATO."