The lights go out in the vaccination center

Created: 12/31/2022, 06:45 am

By: Stefanie Zipfer

Together they turned off the light at the Dachau vaccination center yesterday: Dennis Behrend, Beate Grimm (Johanniter), Dr.

Christian Günzel, Max Frisch, Monika Baumgartner-Schneider (Head of Department for Health Department Dachau), District Administrator Stefan Löwl and MdL Bernhard Seidenath (from left).

© hab

After almost two years, the two corona vaccination centers in Dachau and Karlsfeld officially ceased their service yesterday.

General practitioners should take over their duties in the future.

For those responsible, a special time ends, wild at the beginning but all in all unforgettable.

Dachau – For Horst Oschmann it was just a small prick, but a big step for the district: The then 92-year-old former district manager of the BRK Dachau was the first to receive the first corona vaccination on December 27, 2020 to the applause of those present got in the Dachau vaccination center.

The importance of the moment is illustrated by the fact that Oschmann not only had to pose for the press with his shirt sleeve pulled up, but was also subsequently immortalized in a selfie with a BRK colleague.

In front of the numerous guests of honor who were present, Bernhard Seidenath, member of the state parliament, called the start of vaccinations in the Red Cross House "a decisive step in the fight against Corona".

But after this celebratory vaccination start, difficult weeks followed.

District Administrator Stefan Löwl remembers a "very, very wild time".

Because even if the district was equipped with a comparatively uniquely good infrastructure, there was a lack of vaccine.

Two vaccination centers - one in Dachau and one in Karlsfeld - had been approved for the district, the standard in the region was only one vaccination center per district.

"Since Munich initially only vaccinated in Riem, i.e. in the east of the city, the plan was that Munich residents from the north and west of the city should come to us in Karlsfeld," says Löwl.

Strict prioritization applied until early summer.

The vaccine was so scarce that "a syringe shouldn't have fallen off," recalls Dr.

Christian Günzel.

The general practitioner was appointed the district’s supply doctor in April 2020 – by the way, his job will also end this Saturday.

Günzel's task was to take over the medical management of the two vaccination centers.

With pharmacist Max Lernbecher, who was responsible for the management of the vaccine, with Max Frisch as BRK responsible for the Dachau vaccination center and Neslihan Bektas from the Johanniter vaccination center in Karlsfeld, he formed - as district administrator Löwl calls it - "the dream team", without that the vaccination company in the district could not have worked.

A security service was indispensable

Also indispensable, especially in the early days, was a security service that monitored the storage location of the vaccines around the clock, and: good nerves!

Because, as well equipped as the two vaccination centers were, it was also the appointment system that drove the citizens crazy and those responsible to despair.

Supply doctor Günzel also criticizes those responsible in Munich in a comparatively clear manner: “The Ministry of Health should have known that the vaccination would come at some point.

So maybe you could have started developing a practicable system half a year earlier.” District Administrator Löwl is more reserved: the BayImco system was simply “much too complicated and complex” at the beginning.

The result: the "more casual" system of the district - in the form of a telephone hotline and an online mask - was hopelessly overloaded, especially in the first three to four days.

Löwl: "God and the world called!"

From the end of April or beginning of May 2021, Löwl and Co. had the feeling of being “in front of the wave” for the first time, as Löwl recalls.

In a cloak-and-dagger telephone campaign, he found 10,000 doses of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, as well as special vaccination campaigns such as "Vaccinate in May".

For the first time there was something like relaxation, for the first time offered appointments remained unoccupied.

At "Vaccination in May" a DJ provided music and people danced.

“I will never forget that,” says Löwl.

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However, the good mood over the summer quickly evaporated when everyone wanted to be vaccinated in autumn 2021 - according to Löwl "felt overnight".

"People from North Rhine-Westphalia even came to Dachau!" In order to cover the enormous demand, the capacities that had been reduced over the summer had to be suddenly increased again.

For the operators of the vaccination centers, BRK and Johanniter, a tour de force.

BRK boss Dennis Behrendt puts it this way: “With the dynamic course of the pandemic and the vaccination waves, there was always massive uncertainty about the future of the vaccination center.

Here we would have expected that the decisions to continue operations would have been made much earlier in order to provide clarity for the vaccination center staff. "Unfortunately, the displeasure of the (impatient) population often hit the employees on site.

By the end of 2021, however, this rush was over, also thanks to the many vaccination campaigns in the district municipalities.

Vaccination numbers have been falling steadily since the beginning of 2022.

In the past few weeks, between ten and 20 doses of vaccine have been administered daily in the vaccination centers – the Karlsfeld center only acted in the form of mobile teams anyway.

The decision from Munich to close the vaccination centers at the end of the year is therefore completely fine for District Administrator Löwl: “I no longer need this logistics for the current demand.

The general practitioners can now easily do that.”

What Doctor Günzel remembers from the past two years is the feeling – despite all the initial difficulties and the high emotional level of the topic – that “we did more well here in Dachau than badly.

We really helped people”!

BRK boss Behrendt and his colleagues will also never forget the gratitude of the people, "that was an incredible incentive for us"!

A balance sheet in numbers: Vaccination documents higher than a church tower

On December 27, 2020, ten citizens in the Dachau district received their first corona vaccination.

Thousands of other vaccinations were added by yesterday evening, and a total of 158,920 doses were administered in the two vaccination centers.

More than 300 employees there were employed in 1000 day shifts alone - even during the curfew in special vaccination campaigns went well after midnight;

during the vaccination campaign "Vaccinate in May" even all night long.

During the "Father's Day Vaccination" in May 2021, 2650 first vaccinations were vaccinated - the maximum number of vaccinations in one day!

It goes without saying that all of these vaccinations were documented: 1152 folders of vaccination documentation are stacked at a height of more than 80 meters - that would tower over the highest church tower in the Dachau district, namely in Altomünster!

The vaccination bus, which is touring through the district, has opened its doors 160 times in the past few months.

Together with locations in community halls, restaurants or schools, the vaccination teams offered an uncomplicated offer on site in over 350 operations.

The district also attracted people willing to be vaccinated with the drive-in vaccination at Karlsfelder See.

For the first time in Bavaria, up to five vaccination teams vaccinated at the same time - the vaccinates didn't even have to leave the car.