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Mainz (dpa / lrs) - In many Rhineland-Palatinate companies, the traffic light is green when it comes to corona vaccination. For example, the pharmaceutical company Boehringer-Ingelheim declared: "We can start tomorrow." At the headquarters in Ingelheim, everything has been prepared for the start of the vaccination, said company spokesman Matthias Reinig of the German Press Agency. The vaccination stations have been set up in the canteen, and the company medical service and the registration system are also ready. It could start as soon as the vaccine has been delivered and the official approval has been given. The company does not yet know when exactly this will be the case.
At the weekend, the Federal Ministry of Health announced that company doctors should also be involved in the corona vaccinations from the week of June 7th at the latest.
According to the ministry, at least 500,000 vaccine doses per week are planned for them nationwide.
At Boehringer Ingelheim, it makes sense to first vaccinate those parts of the workforce who work on the factory premises.
Most of the employees work from home.
Around 9,000 men and women work in research, development, production and administration at the largest group location in Ingelheim (Mainz-Bingen district).
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The pharmaceutical company at its Biberach site is already one step further when it comes to vaccination than at its headquarters in Rhine-Hesse. In a pilot project run by the state of Baden-Württemberg there, the company is to receive up to 1,000 doses of vaccine for employees in order to gain experience with the processes involved in vaccination for the state government and other companies. According to the company, it has set up a vaccination center on the factory premises for this purpose, which will initially go into operation for employees with location-specific functions from mid-May. With over 6,500 employees, Biberach is the company's largest production facility for biopharmaceutical drugs.
The Mainz special glass manufacturer Schott is also in stand-by mode during vaccination. "We could start right away: the premises, staff, schedules and the like are prepared," reported company spokesman Salvatore Ruggiero. As soon as the vaccine has been delivered, "let's get started," he emphasized. In this case, not only the company's own employees willing to be vaccinated, but also the staff of external companies at Schott's Mainz headquarters would be vaccinated. Schott has not yet received a signal as to when exactly it will start.
The four chambers of industry and commerce in the state have also advocated vaccination by company doctors and developed their own concept, which was also presented to the state government.
The proposal envisages that in addition to the two previous pillars of vaccination - the regional centers and the general practitioners' practices - the companies should be added as a “third pillar”.
The aim of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce is to have at least one larger "anchor company" involved in vaccination in each of the 129 municipalities in the state or in their vicinity.
In these companies, company doctors should not only be able to vaccinate entire workforces, but also their relatives and, in addition, the employees of surrounding companies and the local population.
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The willingness of the Rhineland-Palatinate companies to participate as the third vaccination pillar is high, said the two IHK managing directors of Koblenz and Rheinhessen, Arne Rössel and Günter Jertz, the German press agency. With the announced vaccination start in companies from June 7th, the topic gained additional momentum.
"Being an anchor company is one of several alternatives with which vaccinations can be organized in the company, and of which it is certainly the most demanding variant," explained Rössel. It is all the more gratifying that a nationwide IHK survey last week showed that 96 percent of the 363 responding companies were specifically interested in vaccinations in the company and 49 percent of them could well imagine the workforce of smaller companies in the surrounding area as an anchor company vaccinate their premises.
"For the start on June 7th, a few federal decisions have to be finalized by mid-May so that things can start," explained Rössel.
As a model, Rhineland-Palatinate itself could start testing in May.
"We are still in talks with the state government on this," he said.
The State Association of Entrepreneurs' Associations Rhineland-Palatinate (LVU) is also involved.
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Chemical giant BASF in Ludwigshafen was a pioneer in vaccinating the workforce by company doctors in Rhineland-Palatinate.
A corresponding pilot project was launched there in mid-April.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210504-99-456660 / 2