Vaccine cans expire and end up in the garbage: Vaccination offers at Berlin schools hardly used – Berlin
It should be a signal that politicians are able to act and achieve a breakthrough in the fight against the corona pandemic. But now the school vaccinations required by Franziska Giffey (SPD) for five to eleven year olds are not very successful.
At the beginning of December, two and a half weeks before she took the oath of office as governing mayor on Tuesday, Giffey said that school vaccinations could be a “real turning point” given the high incidence in this age group.
By Monday evening, almost 15,000 children between the ages of five and eleven had been vaccinated in Berlin. The school vaccination, criticized as a show by medical officers, had only a minimal share in it. Instead of waiting for the vaccination at a school, parents tend to rely on vaccination centers and paediatricians. According to the German Red Cross, up to 300 children are vaccinated per vaccination center and day.
The school vaccination project, which was carried out by the various health senators Dilek Kalayci (SPD) after Giffey’s announcement against the resistance of the districts, is hardly popular.
Kalayci even accepted an open conflict with the medical officers: according to the law, vaccination centers have to officially test and approve them – the health administration sees no reason for such tests. From Thursday, the first vaccinations in schools will end for the time being.
Single-digit number of vaccinations per day in some schools
Giffey, Kalayci and the new Federal Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) started the campaign a week ago in the Natural History Museum – for the cameras with smiling kids in front of dinosaur skeletons. Now it even turns out: Because of the effort, but chaotically organized by the health administration, even vaccine has to be disposed of unused.
The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) recommended corona vaccination for children aged five to eleven with previous illnesses and contact with high-risk patients. Vaccinations have been going on in each of the twelve districts of a school for a week. According to the DRK, the number of vaccinations per day in some schools is in the single-digit range, the peak value was reached at a school with 90 vaccinations in one day.
If an ampoule is opened for a child without further vaccinations, the vaccine sufficient for nine other children must be disposed of after one hour.
Originally, the health administration had planned to offer school vaccinations during the Christmas holidays. The district offices had already blocked the vacation for the necessary staff such as caretakers and cleaning staff. But the aid organizations were not prepared to cut their staff for only a manageable number of vaccinations and to send them to schools.
[Wenn Sie alle aktuellen Nachrichten live auf Ihr Handy haben wollen, empfehlen wir Ihnen unsere App, die Sie hier für Apple- und Android-Geräte herunterladen können.]
On Friday evening, the rejection of State Secretary Martin Matz (SPD), who was still in office at this time, came by e-mail: “For organizational reasons, it was decided that no vaccinations will take place in primary schools between the years.”
As the email shows, school vaccinations could soon be over. initially only second vaccinations are to be carried out from January 5th to 13th. Whether there WILL be primary vaccinations in schools will only be decided after the project has been evaluated.