Read the video transcript here
“Who hasn't got it yet, who wants to do it again? Next, please. Wonderful, I greet you. "
Thursday morning, 9:30 a.m. at the Hotel Schanzenstern in Hamburg.
A mobile vaccination team from the city administers corona vaccinations to 13 homeless people, street workers help with the forms.
In a moment it will be Atidzhe Aliman's turn.
She is from Bulgaria.
“Let your arm relax. So, that gives a quick poke. "
More than 800 of the more than 2000 homeless people in Hamburg have already been immunized with the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
On Monday, the Standing Vaccination Commission recommended that it only be given to people over 60.
People under the age of 60 can only get it after receiving additional medical advice.
One of the trump cards of the vaccine from the USA is particularly helpful in immunizing the homeless.
"Wonderful. And another huge plaster. "
Julien Thiele, street worker
“The advantage of Johnson and Johnson is simply that people only need to be vaccinated once and we don't have to keep people or find people for the second vaccination appointment, so to speak. That makes it easier and, above all, it now offers secure protection relatively quickly. "
Atidzhe Aliman is staying in this hotel room with her partner for a few months, mediated by a private initiative that protects people from life on the street.
Here a social worker informed her about the vaccination in her native Bulgarian.
Also, unlike many other homeless people, Atidzhe has a place to recover from possible side effects.
Immediately after the vaccination, Aliman is fine.
Atidzhe Aliman, homeless
“I have no complaints at the moment. Many people say that they felt very uncomfortable after the vaccination. Some got sick. I wasn't afraid or worried. "
Aliman's partner Kenan Mustafa has already been vaccinated with AstraZeneca, he suffers from a kidney disease and is therefore considered a risk patient.
Soon the second vaccination is due, then the couple will have full vaccination protection.
Kenan and Atidzhe are currently safe from a life on the street, Atidzhe even has a job as a cleaner, which she now has to go to.
For many homeless people, however, the reality is different - and vaccination cannot be given early enough for them.
Julien Thiele, street worker
“It is very important that homeless people are vaccinated now, actually it should have started very early, in priority 1, because homeless people have no equivalent shelters all the time, have to stay in mass accommodation and are also extremely vulnerable with their state of health . "
But there are - just like in the rest of the population - reservations about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Since the effectiveness is somewhat lower compared to vaccines from BioNTech or Moderna, Herbert Böhm, who has multiple sclerosis, wants to go to the Hamburg vaccination center, where these vaccines are administered.
Street social worker Julien Thiele helps find appointments.
“We're trying to book this online at the vaccination center. You definitely belong to the prioritization, on the one hand because you are homeless, that counts according to paragraph 3. And then you also have a neurological muscle disease, that currently also counts in the prioritization. "
»Make a binding booking. You got BioNTech. "
"Really good."
"Exactly, tomorrow at 12:30 pm."
The fact that Böhm has the choice of getting another vaccine means a lot to him.
Herbert "Javi" Boehm
“At that moment, I feel accepted as a full-fledged part of society because I am involved in this regard. «
The Hamburg vaccination campaign is reaching more and more people - and whichever vaccine it ends up being: for homeless people, protection from the coronavirus means at least one less worry.