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In Freiburg, many people got up very early on this Sunday.
AstraZeneca for everyone, without prioritization, without age restriction, without prior registration, the organizers of the central Freiburg vaccination center had announced on Friday for Sunday morning - and apparently underestimated the rush that this triggered.
As early as six in the morning, the local media reported, hundreds of Freiburg residents had been queuing in front of the vaccination center, which opened at eight.
Thousands of people came to the central vaccination center in Freiburg
Source: Thomas Holtz
At 8:10 a.m., all 1400 available day tickets for a vaccination with the Swedish-British vaccine AstraZeneca were sold out.
Those responsible urgently asked travelers not to come to the exhibition halls.
The security forces already had their hands full to keep the onslaught of those willing to vaccinate and the march of the disappointed in reasonably corona-fair channels.
It was pushed forward and pushed.
The mandatory distances shrank towards skin contact.
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Hamburg, Bremen, Remscheid and Cologne also reported increased vaccine demand.
In the cathedral city, vaccinations were also carried out on the weekend in a special campaign without prioritization.
More than 2500 people picked up their first vaccination in the large mosque in the Ehrenfeld district - and stood in line for it at four in the morning.
In addition to AstraZeneca, the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson was also vaccinated for the first time, although it is not entirely undisputed because of the possible formation of blood clots in rare cases.
Its big advantage: Just one dose is enough for immunization.
Queue in front of the mosque in Cologne
Source: AP
Source: AP
Whatever vaccine is used - wherever immunization is no longer strictly in accordance with the prioritization specified by the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), at least for a limited time, and where previously unauthorized groups of the population are given the chance to receive a dose, the rush is enormous.
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The patient vaccination marathon turns into a race for the fastest possible immunization.
The decision by the Bundestag and Bundesrat to lift a large part of the pandemic-related restrictions on vaccinated and convalescent people has reinforced this trend.
Especially in the holiday season, a front position in the vaccination sequence has advantages.
Anyone who is fully vaccinated at the beginning of the summer holidays, i.e. usually twice, and has the relevant evidence, saves the compulsory tests before departure, which is foreseeable for all domestic holiday destinations this year, as well as the daily updated tests for unvaccinated people when visiting a restaurant, a milk bar or a fish fryer. In addition, all subsequent quarantine obligations do not apply to stays abroad.
At home, too, life for vaccinated and convalescent people will be more relaxed with the coming into force of the relevant regulation.
All contact restrictions have been lifted for the approximately 7.5 million who have been fully immunized to date, as have the regional curfews.
When visiting the hairdresser or shopping, there are no test obligations - a corona vaccination, no question about it, will become a worthwhile health investment beyond its medical effect at the beginning of this week.
Whoever is vaccinated first can be the first to celebrate again.
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This is also felt by the general practitioners, whose practices have been stormed by people willing to vaccinate for days - and who complain of a constant shortage of vaccines despite the overall increase in delivery quantities. For Brandenburg, for example, reports the chairman of the local statutory health insurance association, Peter Noack, that the federal government has limited the amount to be dispensed for the week from May 17 so that each doctor can order a maximum of twelve doses of the coveted Biontech serum. Not even everyone following the recommendations of the Stiko vaccinators could therefore count on a quick appointment.
The anger of those who go away empty-handed is correspondingly numerous and great.
He could understand, according to Noack, "that it leads to disappointment if you are eligible for vaccination but do not get an appointment".
However, he has no understanding for those who “let their frustration run free in the call center, in the doctor's offices or in the administration of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians”.
Such insults were "unbearable and did not lead to a faster appointment."
The sooner the better - according to this motto, not only the family doctor's practices in Brandenburg are assaulted.
In Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, too, the German Red Cross (DRK), which is responsible for the local vaccination center, has identified a new trend among those willing to vaccinate.
"More and more people called who want to postpone their appointment for the second vaccination because they hope to be able to go on vacation," reported DRK district manager Rainer Bertram of the Munich newspaper "tz".
As a rule, however, this is not even possible because such a postponement would mess up the entire vaccination logistics, in which the appointment allocation is closely linked to the vaccine delivery.
Chaos also in Hamburg due to faulty mail
How great the desire for early full protection against the virus and the associated personal freedoms is, was also shown at the weekend in Hamburg's vaccination center.
Thousands of additional people who wanted to be vaccinated appeared in the exhibition halls.
The trigger was apparently an incorrectly sent e-mail in which people who had been vaccinated with AstraZeneca had already been offered to collect their second dose early, i.e. before the recommended twelve-week period had expired.
The result: long queues formed in front of the otherwise well-organized vaccination center.
The waiting time between arrival and vaccination was up to three hours.
Vaccination center boss Dirk Heinrich urged all vaccinated people who were invited to an early vaccination not to travel on social media.
A recommendation that not everyone followed. Heinrich counted more than 10,000 vaccinations on Saturday alone. That is 2000 vaccinations more than the daily capacity of the Hamburg vaccination center officially allows.