The Lord Mayor of Halle, Bernd Wiegand, and other local politicians in Saxony-Anhalt have received an early corona vaccination
Photo:
Hendrik Schmidt / dpa
In Saxony-Anhalt, local politicians and police officers were vaccinated against the corona virus prematurely, contrary to the vaccination sequence established by the federal government.
The pre-vaccinated people include the non-party mayor of Halle, Bernd Wiegand, and ten of his city councilors.
The district administrator of Wittenberg, Jürgen Dannenberg, and his deputy are said to have already been vaccinated.
In addition, more than 300 police officers were vaccinated in the Stendal district.
The Minister of Health of Saxony-Anhalt sharply criticized the procedure.
Currently in Germany only people who belong to the highest priority, as stipulated in the federal vaccination regulations, are to be vaccinated.
In addition to people over 80 years of age, residents in old people's and nursing homes, the nursing staff and medical staff who treat Covid-19 sufferers or patients who are at high risk of a severe course
The vaccinations from Stendal first became known on Thursday.
The district said it had conducted a field trial in January to test how many people outside of the vaccination centers can be vaccinated.
Police officers were taken as test subjects: 320 of them received their vaccinations during the test in mid-January.
Local politicians in Halle and Wittenberg vaccinated
On Friday the MDR reported that the district administrator of Wittenberg, Jürgen Dannenberg (left) and his deputy Jörg Hartmann (CDU) had been vaccinated - on December 26th - before the official vaccination start one day later.
Dannenberg and the district could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
The Ministry of Health confirmed that it had requested the districts of Stendal and Wittenberg for a written statement.
On Saturday, the mayor of Halle, Bernd Wiegand, admitted that he had received a first vaccination.
In addition, ten councilors were vaccinated.
The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung had previously reported on it.
Wiegand said he and his staff were vaccinated from leftover doses.
With such residues, the vaccination team first tries to reach members of the first priority group.
If this does not succeed, candidates for the so-called ad-hoc vaccination would be randomly selected from a pool of city employees, emergency services and medical specialists.
So far, 585 people in Halle have been vaccinated with leftover doses, said Wiegand.
The vaccination team called him on January 17th and vaccinated him in a hospital.
Prior to this, he had made sure several times that no hospital employee was available for a spontaneous vaccination at the time, said the mayor.
Wiegand defended the approach and called it transparent.
He did not announce his first vaccination because it was a private matter.
Health Minister has sharp criticism
The state government criticized those responsible and asked them to explain themselves.
“I have no understanding whatsoever if nationwide vaccination sequences are disregarded,” said Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD).
"That applies to Stendal, that applies to Wittenberg, that applies to Halle." She will first get a report, said Grimm-Benne.
“But one thing is certain: Saxony-Anhalt will receive vaccine from the federal government.
And it is determined who should receive this in first priority. «There are no special contingents for the police or politics.
"And that's just as well."
The Magdeburg CDU member of the Bundestag Tino Sorge also criticized the approach.
"We deliberately preferred very old people and risk groups in the Bundestag when prioritizing vaccinations," tweeted Sorge on Saturday.
"Current 'exceptions' are a disservice to acceptance." The FDP Halle called on Mayor Wiegand to resign.
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