Many free dates Can anyone in Bonn now get vaccinated immediately if they want to?

Bonn · At the moment, the depots of the city and vaccinators are well filled for the vaccination for everyone over the age of twelve. The municipality has also just received 4,500 doses for younger children. We explain where appointments are still available and how to book them.

 The number of vaccination centres in Bonn has grown more and more in recent weeks.

The number of vaccination centres in Bonn has grown more and more in recent weeks.

Foto: dpa/Christian Modla

 The prospects for a free vaccination appointment are very good in Bonn for the next few days. This is not least evident from the internet platform www.doctolib.de, through which many general practitioners, specialists and also some vaccination centres organise their appointment bookings. There is also often the possibility to choose from the available vaccines BioNTech, Moderna (both mRNA vaccines) and Johnson & Johnson (vector vaccine). In addition, there is opportunity to be immunised at the vaccination centres and at open vaccination campaigns in the city without an appointment (see: "The contact points“).

 Bonn pharmacist Martina Brambring of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Pharmacists' Association told our editorial team: "We currently have enough vaccines." Bonn internist Jörg Abel, who is on the board 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, chairman of the association, whose pharmacy, however, is 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 getting better again."

 "Vaccination campaign has gained momentum"

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

Nevertheless, the pharmacies in NRW hope to be able to start independent vaccinations against the coronavirus soon. Up to now, 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, among other things, regulate the remuneration and the ways in which pharmacies can 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 rooms to carry out vaccinations. They already provide flu vaccinations.

 Pharmacists for low-threshold offer

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

 Reiz, on the other hand, is of the opinion that people with previous illnesses will generally continue to go to their trusted doctor when they get vaccinated. "It is also the case that pharmacists will naturally take a medical history and advise patients." He also sees this as an opportunity that young and healthy people, for example, might be more likely to get immunised at the pharmacy, who otherwise would not go to the doctor at all. There is also the question of how the situation will change if the vaccination centres in the municipalities close sooner or later.

 The supply of vaccines to doctors in private practice and also to the municipal vaccination centres is organised in a similar way. Doctors or the city's official pharmacist usually report the order of vaccine quantities to the local pharmacies on a weekly basis. The pharmacies, in turn, place their orders with the wholesalers. The distribution to the wholesalers is done by the federal government and the state. 

 It should be mentioned that the vaccines usually reach the pharmacy thawed and that the most frequently administered vaccines, BioNTech and Moderna, only have a shelf life of 30 days at refrigerator temperature from this point on. The latter is also the reason why the city wanted to have 3,500 vaccine doses of BioNTech from a larger special contingent of the NRW Ministry of Health administered from mid-December until this Monday, so as not to have to throw anything away.

 At the same time, the weekly ordering cycle means that the availability of vaccines in the future is not always easy to calculate. As vice city spokesman Marc Hoffmann said, the health department currently has the information that less BioNTech will be delivered as of this week: "But as always, that can still change.“

 The city has just received 4,500 doses of the vaccine for children aged five to eleven. As a result, appointments can now be booked again at the town hall at www.ciz-bonn.de from 31 January. Half of the doses must be set aside for the second vaccinations. According to the press office, 1,000 appointments are initially available because siblings who have not been registered often come along and are also vaccinated; the appointments for the second vaccination are allocated at the same time. The city advises people to check the portal from time to time in the coming days, as more appointments will gradually be posted.

 THE CONTACT POINTS

Vaccinations possible without an appointment

In the coming days, vaccinations without an appointment will continue to be available for all persons aged twelve years and above. Booster vaccinations will be given from three months after the second vaccination. The following are the dates:

  •  Monday, 10 January 2022: Foyer of the Bonn Opera House, Am Boeselagerhof 1, 10 am to 5 pm;
  •  From Tuesday, 11 January, the city will also operate a vaccination centre in Beuel. People aged 18 and over can then come to the Brotfabrik, Kreuzstraße 16, from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 6 pm.
  •  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Stadthaus-Passage, Berliner Platz 2;
  •  Wednesday, 12 January 2022: Hardtberg Town Hall, Villemombler Straße 1, 12 to 18 hrs;
  •  Thursday, 13 January 2022, Brüser Berg Neighbourhood Centre, Fahrenheitstraße 49, 1 to 6 pm;
  •  Mondays to Fridays from 12 to 6 p.m.: Stadthalle Bad Godesberg, Koblenzer Straße 80. kph

Original text: Philipp Königs

Translation: Mareike Graepel

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