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A senior citizen finds out about the vaccination appointment: When will she get through?
Photo: Roland Weihrauch / dpa
Vaccination centers were set up and tested in North Rhine-Westphalia for months.
The vaccines are rare, but what is there could soon be inoculated on a large scale.
In principle.
But at least the start of appointments for the over-80s on this Monday went mightily wrong in Germany's largest state.
Registration websites and hotlines were virtually overrun, servers and telephone lines could not cope with the rush.
The overloading of the booking systems in the Gütersloh district, for example, meant that those who wanted to be vaccinated did not get through or received messages on the Internet such as “no vaccination appointment available”.
The result: of the 10,400 appointments already available in the district, just 194 appointments were made by early afternoon, as the district administration announced.
In many other circles it did not look better: The North Rhine and Westphalia-Lippe statutory health insurance associations responsible for the organization spoke of an overload and asked to book the appointment at a later date.
"Unreasonable for older people"
However, the authorities and statutory health insurance associations do not have much time left.
In the week from February 8th, around 70,000 people are expected to receive their first vaccinations in the 53 vaccination centers.
The State Ministry of Health plans to carry out 560,000 first vaccinations in the first eight weeks of the campaign.
Even if everything goes well, NRW is unlikely to have vaccinated all over-80s at this rate even at Easter: Because around a million people in the state are at least that old.
The elderly's children and grandchildren reacted to the mishaps on social media, sometimes desperately, sometimes with gallows humor.
One user wrote: »SYNTAX ERROR IN JSON.
Which 80-year-old should understand that? «, Britta Haßelmann, Member of the Green Party, spoke of an» unreasonable expectation for many older people «.
In view of this start, the SPD in the Düsseldorf state parliament spoke of a »vaccination chaos« and requested a current hour on the vaccination strategy in the state parliament.
The parliamentary group announced that "the parliament and the population should be informed and cleared up promptly about undesirable developments."
Visitors to the website www.116117.de, which is relevant for vaccination appointments in the state, had received the notice that appointments were currently not possible due to the increased demand.
The hotlines for telephone registration were also »unsuccessful«, criticized SPD parliamentary group vice-president Kristin Kapteinat.
All lines busy
According to the organizers of the vaccination in NRW, 1200 employees work in the call centers.
The lines are manned daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Those who live in the Rhenish part of North Rhine-Westphalia should dial 0800 116 117 01, people in Westphalia 0800 116 117 02. However, many who couldn't get through on Monday heard the announcement: "Unfortunately, due to numerous calls, all lines in your district are currently busy."
The German Foundation for Patient Protection spoke of a "bumpy start to the allocation of vaccination appointments".
Board member Eugen Brysch said: "Although North Rhine-Westphalia is not the first state to go online with appointments, there is no learning effect." Even pre-registration is not possible.
When Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) calls for termination, "he shouldn't be surprised if people follow him."
NRW is not the only federal state with problems in making appointments.
Thuringia, for example, has stopped the allocation of further appointments via the Internet portal set up for this purpose "until further notice".
The reason there, however, are the delivery problems at the vaccine manufacturer Pfizer, which became known a week ago.
The portal will remain closed until at least February 8th, it said.
Appointments cannot be made by telephone at the moment.
(Read more about the procedure in your state here.)
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Prime Minister Armin Laschet spoke of a successful start despite the problems.
"Tens of thousands got appointments today," said the CDU politician.
The organizers also reassured them that nobody had to worry about their vaccination or their appointment.
"Everyone who wants to be vaccinated will get it, but not immediately."
In the meantime, however, the State Ministry of Health has apparently also recognized that the bumpy start can definitely be a problem - and promises: "We are working hard to remove the bottlenecks."
In the Gütersloh district, the population is now being appealed to to keep appointments.
There are still plenty of free appointments at the vaccination center in Gütersloh, and the registration process is gradually becoming more even.
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apr / dpa / AFP