Berlin – It started five months ago. The vaccination against Corona, which is now supposed to pick up speed in Berlin, but continues to cause chaos. With two million people, almost half of all Berliners of legal age have already received at least one vaccination. Since, however, people without priority can get injections against the virus from family doctors, and the vaccination sequence in the centers is to be discontinued from June 7th, there are now hardly any appointments due to the high demand and the still scarce vaccine. What is currently to be considered when vaccinating.
How do I get my vaccination appointment?
Getting an appointment at one of the six vaccination centers now seems impossible. When the Berliner Zeitung called the vaccination hotline (030) 9028 2200 on Thursday, it was said that the vaccination centers were “completely booked out”. According to one employee, this will be the case until the end of June. The Doctolib online booking portal reads (as of May 27): “Due to the high demand and currently limited vaccination doses, all availabilities are booked out.” Employees on the vaccination hotline refer those affected to the doctors. But even with them there is chaos, vaccination doses are also scarce in the practices, reports the head of the Berlin General Practitioner Association, Wolfgang Kreischer.
The number of calls to the vaccination phones in practices, where patients put themselves on waiting lists and are then called back when a dose is available for them, is enormous. “At Astrazeneca this can be done within a week, at Biontech you have to wait up to six weeks for an appointment,” says Kreischer. He criticizes the fact that some patients register in several practices or in the vaccination center in order to get a vaccination more quickly, “but after vaccination they do not cancel appointments that are booked elsewhere”.
When will things get better?
That is currently uncertain. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, there should be more vaccine from next month. The Berlin vaccination centers should receive 547,000 doses from Biontech and Moderna in June. But on Wednesday evening it was announced that Biontech will deliver 1.6 million fewer doses nationwide than planned in June. If you need an appointment now, you have no choice but to have your family doctor put you on the waiting list. Or call the vaccination hotline again and again in the hope that an appointment will be available there.
How do I have to prepare for the vaccination?
It is important that the person to be vaccinated has their vaccination card and identity card with them at their appointment.
What do I have to consider before vaccination?
“The patient can normally eat and drink something before the appointment,” says general practitioner association chief Kreischer. However, it is important to inform the doctor before vaccination if there were irregularities with other vaccinations, such as allergies to vaccines or shock reactions. Then it has to be clarified whether you will be vaccinated or not.
What should be considered after vaccination?
Doctors do not recommend exercising or exercising after vaccination. A glass of wine or beer in the evening to celebrate the spades is not a problem. But the medical professionals say you should give your body plenty of time and rest so that it can process the vaccine well. This also has consequences from time to time: In addition to pressure in the vaccinated upper arm, the patient must expect fatigue, headache or a slight fever as a vaccination reaction, according to Kreischer, a family doctor. “These can go away after two days,” says the doctor. Taking aspirin against it is not a problem. But you shouldn’t take preventive medication before the vaccination, says the doctor.
With the second vaccination, for example with the Biontech vaccine, the symptoms could be a little more severe because the immune system may react more violently to the vaccine. It is therefore even an advantage if there is a longer period of time between the first and second vaccination, says Kreischer. “Then the vaccine from the first vaccination has already manifested itself so well in the body that there are hardly any stronger reactions with the second vaccination.”
Can I get a cold vaccine?
No, explains family doctor Kreischer. Because when you have a cold, your body is already struggling with an infection. This could negatively affect the effectiveness of the vaccine. Because with its help, defenses against the coronavirus should be built up in the body undisturbed. Even with the first vaccination, sufficient protection against corona can be created, which is reinforced with the second.
Can children and adolescents be vaccinated?
In Berlin, Health Senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD) expects vaccinations to start in children and adolescents between 12 and 18 years from mid-June. Biontech and Moderna could be used as vaccines. However, they still have to be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for this age group.
When does the electronic vaccination certificate come?
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) assumes that the electronic vaccination card will be available in Germany by the end of June. The entry of the corona vaccinations via QR code is to be made on an app by general practitioners or authorized personnel in the vaccination centers. The details of the process are still unclear, however, said a spokeswoman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Berlin.
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