Coronavirus in the Rhine-Sieg district New hope for a vaccination center in Meckenheim
Swisttal-Heimerzheim · A new decree by the state of NRW allows hopes for a second vaccination center in the Rhine-Sieg district grow. The mayors on the left bank of the Rhine have been calling for this at the Meckenheim site for some time.
A second vaccination center in the Rhine-Sieg district on the left bank of the Rhine could now be built in the former administrative building of the city of Meckenheim on the street Im Ruhrfeld. As District Administrator Sebastian Schuster announced at a press conference on Monday afternoon, it could theoretically be established from April 1.
There was a conference meeting with the six left Rhine mayors and Regierungspräsidentin Gisela Walsken of the district government Cologne in the castle Heimerzheim. Schuster referred there to a current decree of the federal state government, which he had received according to his own statement only on Monday morning. According to it districts can furnish a second inoculation center, if the first pushes towards its capacity borders.
According to the decree, the number of vaccinations per month is to increase from 7,000 per 70,000 inhabitants to 8,000 starting in April. The Rhine-Sieg district has a good 600,000 inhabitants, which corresponds to about 68,570 vaccinations per month. The mayors on the left bank of the Rhine had already agreed on the location in Meckenheim in January.
They were responding to the wishes of numerous citizens. In particular, senior citizens, who are often no longer able to drive themselves, cannot be expected to travel by bus and train across Bonn to the vaccination center in Sankt Augustin, changing at the main train station. The vaccination center in Sankt Augustin could reach its capacity limits in the course of the next few months, when the younger age groups, and thus also the numerically larger ones, have their turn to be vaccinated. This is always assuming that sufficient vaccine is also available.
"So a second vaccination center in the district can be considered," said the district administrator, "that's virtually the go ahead for Meckenheim." The district president agreed with him: it had been important that the people on the left bank of the Rhine had not only articulated the general wish for an easily accessible vaccination facility, but had also provided a concrete proposal as to where such a vaccination center could be set up. The Meckenheimer mayor Holger young was glad about the fact that the left Rhine had been united in this. It is about the people and not about rivalries among the municipalities.
Original text: Hans-Peter Fuss and Katharina Weber
Translation: Mareike Graepel