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A Bavarian doctor vaccinates against the coronavirus in her practice (archive)
Photo: Nicolas Armer / dpa
33,600 vaccination doses for 1,635 general practitioners, i.e. around 20 doses per practice - that sounds like a manageable amount for Bavaria.
There are around 8,500 general practitioners' practices in the densely populated state.
And yet it is more than just a symbolic success that general practitioners in Bavaria will start vaccinations against the coronavirus this Wednesday and Thursday - nationwide it should not start until after Easter.
33,600 AstraZeneca cans are now available in Bavaria.
The stop of the AstraZeneca vaccinations for under 60-year-olds does not stop the project, said Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder.
Vaccination doses from reserves of the Ministry of Health
Bavaria is the first federal state that regularly starts vaccinations with the family doctor; previously there had been model projects in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, among others, in which a small number of practices had participated.
A spokesman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Bavaria (KVB) said that only just under a fifth of practices in Bavaria begin vaccination.
Which practices can start was clarified by survey: The practices were selected based on how many older patients they have and how much would be vaccinated there regularly.
According to a spokeswoman, the 33,600 vaccine doses came from the reserves of the Bavarian Ministry of Health.
Nothing was diverted from the contingent of vaccination centers for the start.
The ministry delivered the vaccine to the pharmacies this week, where the doctors could then pick it up.
The spokesman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians was pleased that family doctors were finally officially included in the vaccination campaign.
Because there had already been cooperation between vaccination centers and general practitioners' practices, so that some people were immediately vaccinated by their general practitioner.
The nationwide campaign starts on April 7th
From April 7, general practitioners are to carry out corona vaccinations nationwide, then the federal government will take over the coordination.
For Bavaria alone, according to State Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU), around 2.3 million vaccine doses are made available for the month - almost a million of them should go to general practitioners.
The distribution of the vaccine for general practitioners is coordinated by the federal government and delivered directly to pharmaceutical wholesalers and local pharmacies from the central warehouse or the manufacturers.
They in turn deliver the cans to the general practitioners.
