Corona: Swiss cantons paralyze when boosting
Boosters, boosters, boosters! To stand up to the wave of omicons, call on the Confederation and the cantons for the third spade. Health Minister Alain Berset (49) also followed up on Wednesday. Instead of closing the tightening, he appealed to the population on Twitter: “Get vaccinated now! Fresh vaccination or booster vaccination protects very well against serious illness – also with Omikron. “
Just, not all cantons have really got going with boosting. As of Tuesday, with 23.2 percent, only a good quarter of the population received the booster vaccination, as the vaccination statistics of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) show.
The front runners are Basel-Stadt with 28.9 percent, Graubünden with 28.3 percent and Uri with 27.7 percent. Schaffhausen, Zug, Bern, Basel-Landschaft and Zurich have also already overcome the 25 percent hurdle.
French-speaking Switzerland in the back ranks
At the other end of the scale, on the other hand, it is not those who are not vaccinated and who live in eastern and central Switzerland – even the two Appenzell in the middle – but the western Swiss. Currently the biggest booster junk dealer: Neuchâtel with a refresh rate of just 13.2 percent. Berset’s home canton of Freiburg, of all places (14.9 percent), is satisfied with second last place.
The other cantons of western Switzerland are also lagging behind: Geneva and Jura with 18.2 percent each, Valais with 20.6 percent and Vaud with 21.1 percent.
In German-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, only Obwalden has not yet cracked the 20 percent hurdle.
Neuchâtel, at the bottom of the list, does not answer
But why is it that of all people who die when boosting them are lame? The majority of those who have been completely vaccinated are above the Swiss average.
In the rear of Neuchâtel is a look request so far unanswered. Likewise the canton of Geneva.
Berset-Canton of Friborg is brief. According to the health department, you don’t have the time to analyze the numbers. But you have to take into account that people who die in the Broye would be vaccinated in the intercantonal hospital in the canton of Vaud. “Our vaccination capacity WILL be expanded at the beginning of January,” promises the canton.
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The canton of Valais, on the other hand, has an explanation for its booster backlog: “Some cantons had already started booster vaccinations during the national vaccination week, which was not the case in Valais,” writes the health department. The backlog will be made up. “The gap to the Swiss average is narrowing!”
Jura defends itself
The canton of Jura also only started the booster campaign in mid-November. “We have gradually adapted our structures to our capacities in order to meet the demand,” explains a spokesman. The canton had to resort to the help of the army, “which enabled us to give the campaign a new dynamic”. The canton also refers to the shortage of staff, so that staff from its own hospitals “could not come to the rescue like this summer because they themselves were under pressure”.
After all, the delta is now getting smaller, the spokesman said. If you only look at the beneficiaries after a 4-month waiting period, the rate is currently 41 percent. In terms of the total population, the 20 percent hurdle nun was also jumped.
Vaud: “We have free places every day”
At 21.1 percent, the canton of Vaud is below the Swiss average. But he consoles himself with the fact that he is leading the French-speaking Swiss ranking. “We have carried out more than twice as many vaccinations as the Valais and also almost twice as many as the canton of Geneva,” writes the health department. In fact, the largest canton in western Switzerland has already boosted over 170,000 people.
In addition, one must also look at the vaccination rates among the elderly. These were given preference. “In the over 75-year-olds, more than 75 percent of those eligible have received a booster dose or have already made an appointment for the next few days, and in the over 65-year-olds 72 percent have received a dose or an appointment,” writes the canton. “These are good coverage rates – and even if appointments have decreased between Christmas and New Year, groups and residents of all ages continued to make appointments in the canton of Vaud.”
The canton also has enough capacity for further vaccinations: “We have free places every day.” With a capacity of 60,000 places per week, the canton currently has more supply than demand.
The example of Vaud shows that it is not just up to the authorities. The population also has to take their noses by the nose.