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Carer, cared for (symbol picture): »guinea pig syndrome«
Photo: Sven Hoppe / picture alliance / dpa
The internist Stefan Steinmetz knows the fear.
She met him again on Tuesday.
An employee of a retirement home in Essen had filled out all the documents, the clarification talk behind him.
But then the nurse suddenly got up and left.
He didn't want a vaccination.
"We were all a bit baffled," says Steinmetz, 71.
The doctor is on the road on behalf of the North Rhine Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians.
"Driving to the vaccination center is more dangerous than the vaccination itself," he says.
But the staff in the country's nursing homes apparently assess the risk differently.
While around 80 percent of the seniors who Steinmetz has visited in the past few days had themselves vaccinated, only half of the nurses were willing to do so.
The German Caritas Association, whose members operate more than 1,800 facilities for inpatient care for the elderly, confirms the doctor's impression.
The vaccination readiness of the employees is probably less than that of the residents, it is said.
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