90,000 workers Corona vaccinations begin for doctors and nursing staff in NRW hospitals
Düsseldorf · Following the vaccinations in care homes, it is now the turn of medical staff in hospitals and clinics. Staff working in corona risk sectors are to be vaccinated first.
The corona vaccination campaign will be extended to hospital staff in NRW this Monday. In a first step, 90,000 employees from hospital sectors that are particularly affected by corona will be able to be vaccinated. This includes staff from isolation wards, intensive care units and emergency rooms.
The state government appealed to hospital staff to take up the offer. "Please get vaccinated against Covid-19 and thus protect your relatives and yourself, as well as the patients entrusted to your care from the spread of the virus," said a statement from the Ministry of Health.
The doctors' association Marburger Bund also stressed the urgency. In recent weeks, "countless" hospital staff had become infected while treating Covid-19 patients and had therefore had to go into quarantine at home, the association's president for North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Hans-Albert Gehle, explained. "To be able to continue to provide care for the high number of Covid-19 patients, however, we need every doctor and every nurse," Gehle emphasised.
Moderna is second vaccine to be approved
NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) wants to personally see the start of vaccination in hospitals on Monday. He will visit the University Hospital in Essen, where staff from Covid-19 sectors can be vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine at two vaccination stations.
The first installment of the corona vaccine from the US manufacturer Moderna arrived in North Rhine-Westphalia last Tuesday. Moderna's is the second vaccine to be approved, in addition to the vaccine produced by Biontech and Pfizer. The vaccination campaign in NRW began on 27 December with the Biontech vaccine. So far, mainly the residents and staff of care homes have been vaccinated using mobile teams.
Meanwhile, the start of the vaccination campaign in the vaccination centres is getting closer. In the coming days, all those over 80 years of age living at home are to receive a letter explaining the process - from making an appointment to the actual vaccination at the respective centre.
(Original text: dpa, Translation: Caroline Kusch)
