A core problem, however, is that sufficient vaccine must then be available. "At our primary care physicians here, supplies have already been drastically cut this week and last week." That's why it's impossible to make a judgment about when pharmacists will be able to start vaccinating, he said. "All the logistics need a certain amount of lead time, and there needs to be enough staff on hand," the spokeswoman said.

Markus Reiz has been the owner of the Donatus Pharmacy in Bornheim and Chairman of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Pharmacists' Association since 2000. He is also a member of the board of the North Rhine Pharmacists' Association. He says, "Pharmacies could step in at short notice and help with vaccinations against the coronavirus." Reiz mentions the model project for flu vaccination in cooperation with the AOK, which has been running since 2020. This project involves 500 pharmacies from the area of the North Rhine Association, which covers southern NRW between the southern Ruhr region, Bergisches Land, Bonn, Aachen and the Lower Rhine. In total, about 1,000 pharmacists have been trained in flu vaccinations in the model project. "They are also able to vaccinate people against Covid," says Reiz.

However, he can't say exactly how it will go with the Covid vaccinations until he knows how much vaccine he will get. “If we only have little vaccine, I can administer it during regular opening hours," Reiz says. Additional vaccinations in the evening or on the weekend are conceivable, depending on the amount of vaccine allocated, he says. The chairman cannot quite understand why the Rhine-Sieg district is suggesting that pharmacies administer vaccines because currently, they only offer testing. Further training is necessary for administering vaccines and they don’t have the capacity for this training right now.

Linda Wnendt, owner of the Ahrtor pharmacy in Ahrweiler, also took part in a pilot project in Rhineland-Palatinate. In mid-November, she completed additional training that allows her to inject AOK-insured patients with the flu vaccine. Wnendt acts, as she says herself, in the service of the common good and adds, "But then I would be a bad pharmacist if I didn't participate in this expansion of the vaccination offer."

However, she is skeptical that it will really happen that those who want to be vaccinated will soon be able to come to her pharmacy: “Quick changes to laws and guidelines, that doesn't work in Germany." She speaks from experience: after the flood, she tried to set up her pharmacy in temporary premises - but encountered a number of bureaucratic obstacles.

Dentists are also showing support for the vaccination campaign. "We share the high level of concern expressed by RKI President Professor Wieler regarding the current Covid situation and also his appeal for booster vaccinations to be carried out quickly," explained Ralf Hausweiler, President of the North Rhine Dental Association, in response to a GA query. The fact that dentists were not allowed to administer Covid vaccinations until now was due to legalities.

Dentists are subject to the Dentistry Act, which does not allow vaccinations as part of dental services. According to Hausweiler, for dentists to be able to administer vaccinations, this would require a legal expansion of their authority in this regard. However, the dental associations in NRW had already signaled their willingness to do so at the start of the vaccination campaign last year: "A legal basis is now needed so that dentists can support the vaccination campaign," Hausweiler said.

"The main thing is that there is enough vaccine," is the first reaction of Bettina Meinecke-Jordan, a dentist from Siegburg, to the decision that dentists should now also ensure that the vaccine is available. "We are definitely ready to vaccinate," emphasizes the owner of the Dentnet practice on Wilhelmstrasse. How that will look in practice, she says, she will have to discuss with her team. "Facilities and rooms are available for this," she says, "but we must also ensure that those who get vaccinated can stay and be observed for a short time afterwards.”

Anne Mahlberg, who has been working as a dentist since 1996, is also concerned about the lack of space available to carry out vaccinations in her own practice in Königswinter-Oberpleis. "And: with my own patients, of course, I know their medical history, so vaccination would be possible without any problems. With strangers, I might be a little more cautious because there could be risks I don't know about." For her as a dentist to participate in the vaccination campaign is a given, she says. She could help out on weekends, for example: "This is a service to society.”

(Orig. text: Hans-Peter Fuss, Raphaela Sabel, Mario Quadt, Andrea Zich, Heike Hamann / Translation: Carol Kloeppel)