Bonn pharmacist Martina Brambring of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Pharmacists' Association told the GA: "We currently have enough vaccines." Bonn internist Jörg Abel, board member of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of the North Rhine (Bonn district office), is not aware of any bottlenecks in distribution. On the other hand, Markus Reiz, chair of the association, who has a pharmacy in Bornheim, noted that it had been difficult to get enough Biontech in the Rhine-Sieg district in the last two weeks. "But things are improving again."

 Reiz says the vaccination campaign has picked up speed in recent weeks after waiting times had been long at the beginning of the campaign for third vaccinations. "The medical profession has made a lot of things possible and managed to carry out more than one million vaccinations per day throughout Germany." Because of this, Reiz sees no particular urgency to include pharmacies in the vaccination campaign.

 Nevertheless, the pharmacies in NRW hope to be able to start independent vaccinations against the Coronavirus soon. So far, trained pharmacists have been vaccinating in cooperation with doctors, Thomas Preis, chairman of the North Rhine Pharmacists' Association, recently told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

 Reiz expects the federal government to issue a vaccination decree before the end of January, which will include regulating remuneration and the procedures for pharmacies to order vaccines. According to Reiz, about 1,000 pharmacies in the association's district of North Rhine, which extends to the Ruhr area, have trained staff and the necessary premises to carry out vaccinations. They already give flu jabs.

 Reiz and Brambring believe that the doctors are doing a good job, but both still believe that it makes sense to involve pharmacies. "We have a close relationship of trust with many customers and could make a low-threshold offer," says Brambring. Internist Abel, on the other hand, is sceptical: "Doctors know their patients and know about any pre-existing conditions. Besides, there is usually more space in the waiting rooms."

 But Reiz says that patients with existing conditions will generally continue to go to their doctor for vaccinations. “Of course, pharmacists will also take people’s medical history and advise patients." He also believes that young and healthy people who might never go to the doctor if it can be avoided could be more likely to get their shot at the pharmacy. Finally, there is also the question of how the situation will change if and when municipal vaccination centres eventually close.

 The supply of vaccines to doctors in private practice and to the municipal vaccination centres is organised in a similar way. Doctors or the city's official pharmacist usually tell the local pharmacies on a weekly basis how many vaccines they need. The pharmacies place their orders with the wholesalers. Distribution to the wholesalers is organised by the central government and federal state.

 It should be mentioned that vaccines have usually thawed when they reach a pharmacy. The most frequently used vaccines, Biontech and Moderna, still have a shelf life of 30 days at refrigerator temperature. This is also why the city of Bonn wanted to see 3500 doses of Biontech that were part of a larger special delivery from the Ministry of Health going into people’s arms from mid-December until this Monday. They would otherwise have to be thrown away. The weekly ordering cycle means that it is not always easy to calculate how many vaccines will be available in the future. Vice city spokesman Marc Hoffmann said the health department had information that less Biontech would be delivered as of this week: "But as always, that can change."

 The city has just received 4500 doses of the vaccine for children aged five to eleven. So appointments can now again be booked at the town hall from 31 January at www.ciz-bonn.de. Half of the doses must be set aside for second vaccinations. According to the press office, 1000 appointments are initially available because siblings who have not been registered often come along and also get their jab; the appointments for the second vaccination are allocated at the same time. The city advises people to check back from time to time in the coming days.

 This is where you can get vaccinated without an appointment:

 In the coming days, vaccinations without an appointment will be available for everyone aged twelve years and older. Booster vaccinations will be given from three months after the second vaccination. Here are the details:

Original

Philipp Königs

Translation

Jean Lennox