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Olaf Scholz promises up to ten million vaccinations per week

2021-03-08T00:43:24.841Z


Internationally, Germany lags seriously behind when it comes to vaccination rates. Now Olaf Scholz holds out the prospect of a remedy. From the end of the month, capacities are to be increased significantly.


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Corona vaccination center in Hamburg

Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa

Germany vaccinates more slowly than the international pioneers and is only mid-range in the EU.

According to the Federal Minister of Finance, that should change soon.

According to Olaf Scholz, the federal and state governments will increase their vaccination capacities.

"There will be up to ten million vaccinations per week," says the Vice Chancellor and SPD top candidate for the federal election on ZDF.

This applies from the end of March and for the months of April, May and June.

"And I have made sure that this is now well prepared." Scholz adds that he campaigned for improvements in the fight against the virus pandemic in the cabinet and at the most recent federal-state summit.

"I'm doing what it takes to get through this crisis well."

So far, the corona vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have been administered in Germany.

All three preparations have in common that they only develop their full effectiveness after the second vaccination.

In Germany, a low six-digit number of vaccination doses is currently administered on working days.

There are fewer on weekends, especially on Sundays.

So far, around 4,916 million people have been vaccinated in the Federal Republic (as of March 7).

Details on the situation in Germany can be found here in the vaccination monitor:

Not all vaccination centers are fully operational yet.

This is mainly due to the still small quantities of vaccine that have been delivered so far.

By the end of March, the three manufacturers Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca should have delivered a total of almost 20 million vaccine doses.

The federal and state governments accuse each other

The federal states complain that the federal government has bought too little vaccine too slowly, and point to their half-empty vaccination centers.

In the federal government, on the other hand, some point to the federal states and calculate that considerable parts of the coveted cans are lying around in refrigerators.

The criticism of the federal vaccination strategy remains loud.

Most recently, the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, accused the federal government of serious negligence.

“In mid-February, Health Minister Jens Spahn promised free rapid tests for everyone.

And he claimed that he had contractually secured 500 million tests for Germany, «said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Spahn (CDU) was unable to meet the high expectations he had raised.

Rhineland-Palatinate did not wait for the federal government, but immediately began to procure tests and train testers, says Dreyer.

The start of retail on Monday will be accompanied by the opening of hundreds of rapid test stations.

In the EU, too, capacities are to be increased

Most recently, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also spoke about the situation in the European Union.

Accordingly, significantly more vaccine doses should be available there from April than before.

The politician announced this in an interview with the Austrian daily newspaper »Der Standard«.

In January and February the manufacturers delivered 20 and 30 million vaccine doses respectively, said von der Leyen, and in March 50 million doses can be assumed: “According to the manufacturer's plans, the quantities could double again from April onwards.

That would be an average of around 100 million cans per month in the second quarter, a total of 300 million by the end of June. "

The EU is currently vaccinating much more slowly than the USA, Great Britain, Israel or Chile.

US President Joe Biden has promised to have enough vaccine available for all Americans by the end of May.

Icon: The mirror

jok / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-03-08

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