Switzerland broke the vaccination wall this week! According to the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), 1007,496 people in the country were fully vaccinated as of Friday. This means that 11.7% of the population has already received two doses of the vaccine and that they are protected from the Coronavirus for the time being. Nearly a million other received at least the first spades.
And it continues stitch by stitch: As Blick knows, Moderna has confirmed that it will deliver another 750,000 vaccine doses by the end of next week. The federal government informed the cantons of this matter.
1.6 million cans are waiting for the arms
The odds are good: in addition to the 822,217 cans still available, the cantons will soon have nearly 1.6 million cans of vaccination. These can start in the turbo finish.
If you haven’t already: On Friday, the canton of Zurich opened up vaccinations for everyone 16 years of age or over. Likewise Aargau and Thurgau. Freiburg continues on Saturday, St. Gallen after a week.
The 180,000 active appointments in Zurich disappeared within a few hours. As it happened on Wednesday in canton Bern where the rush even led to the collapse of the scoring system. It appears: Switzerland is waiting anxiously for spades.
In many cantons, patience is still required
However, in about half of the cantons, young people still have to be patient. So, this week Basel changed dates only for the over 50 age group, and Basel-Landschaft, Graubünden, Glarus, Lucerne, Zug and Ticino are similarly advanced. Geneva is lagging a little behind. To date, an appointment has been set for all those over the age of 65 who wish to be vaccinated. The other groups are following now.
One of the reasons for the difference in the pace is the cantonal vaccination strategies. Gradually, new segments of the population are given access to vaccination – in some cantons the steps are smaller, and in some cantons larger.
Age before beauty or not?
At Appenzell Innerrhoden, for example, wines are prioritized for a relatively long time. Only when all persons over 40 years of age who wish to be vaccinated are appointments issued for younger people. On the other hand, Bern only did gradients until the age of 50 and then opened them up to everyone.
FOPH gives “canton size, demographics, but also willingness of different age groups to be vaccinated” as other reasons. If the population of the canton is older, it will take longer for young people to take their turn.
Cantons have to roll up their sleeves
However, the cantons could still step on the accelerator a little more. An average of 50,000 vaccines are being administered per day. Only four percent increase compared to the previous week. At the end of February, the cantons claimed to be able to stab up to 110,000 times a day. They are still far from that.
So far, Switzerland has received fewer than four million doses. According to the contracts, six million will be added by the end of June – according to federal assumptions, enough to entice everyone who wants to be vaccinated. In order for cans to be truly vaccinated and enable us all to enjoy a carefree summer, the number of injections must be doubled per day. It seems the vaccinators aren’t the only ones who have to roll up their sleeves.
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