The vaccination station in the Bernard Building will close its doors on December 30, ending nearly two years after the city health department offered the vaccinations. “The vaccine is still available and we recommend a booster vaccination for everyone whose last vaccination was more than six months ago, as long as our vaccination offer is still available,” emphasizes Mayor Sabine Groß. “On behalf of the magistrate, I thank all those involved: those who vaccinated or scheduled appointments, organized mobile rooms or vaccinations, calmed queues and helped with scheduling, hung posters and promoted vaccination. All those who were available for questions and organization and who they organized the complex invoicing Thanks also to the many hosts of our mobile vaccinations – there have been 185 offers since July alone.
The vaccination station is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00 until the end of the year. All approved vaccines are offered. «The review protects the vaccinated from the serious courses of the Sars-Cov-2 virus and slightly reduces the risk of contracting a post-Covid disease, which is affecting more and more people. Unfortunately, infection with a mild course cannot be ruled out even in newly vaccinated people. At present, medical care from hospitals is severely limited due to lack of staff and high number of influenza and RSV infections. Even children are affected. In addition to vaccination, the mask is therefore still recommended indoors at events – it also protects against these diseases,” explains Dr. Bernhard Bornhofen, head of the city’s health department.
“The vaccination numbers in our vaccination station are not higher, either in the mobile teams or in the permanent station in the Bernard building. In addition, there will be no more financial support from the federal and state governments for the next year. We therefore have decided to suspend our offer. Vaccination offers are still available from general practitioners and sometimes even in pharmacies. So anyone who wants to be vaccinated will still find an offer without any problems,” says Mayor Groß.
Rückblick
In February 2021, vaccinations began at the Offenbach vaccination center on Waldstrasse. The first people willing to be vaccinated were welcomed by the full-time magistrate in the town hall. Initially, the appointments still took place in the state of Hesse after the assignment of priorities. The citizens’ hotline and the district manager supported senior citizens in booking appointments. The vaccinations were carried out by the service provider Med11 under the supervision of the civil defense at the Offenbach fire brigade. Offenbach’s vaccination campaign started on large advertising banners with the motto “I will give Corona the cold shoulder” with people from retail, education, gastronomy, health care, culture, sports and public transport local.
In April 2021, the city of Offenbach organized a vaccination registration for people who could intervene spontaneously if someone did not keep the appointment. This way, short-lived vaccine doses are not expired.
The mobile vaccination teams left on December 27, 2020 with the first vaccinations in a retirement home. In addition to retirement homes for the elderly, “residential” vaccinations were also organized to allow the vaccination of immobile people, since at that time those in permanent residence were not yet authorized to get vaccinated.
The vaccines were released for everyone in July for resident doctors. In addition to the possibility of vaccination in the vaccination centre, vaccinations could now also be carried out by the general practitioner. The vaccination center was open every day from 7:00 to 22:00 for those who wanted to be vaccinated without an appointment. There was also a vaccination offer in the citizen’s office.
The vaccination took place in the town hall for nine months before the vaccination center was closed with a closing party at the end of September. Over 100,000 people were vaccinated there, sometimes nearly 1,000 people a day. Vaccination should again mainly be done by family doctors.
As a low-threshold offer, the health department has also opened the smallest vaccination station in the Bernard building, which has offered vaccinations with all approved vaccines since the end of October 2021. Initially, the offer was only partially used . With vaccination mandates for many workplaces and 2G/3G regulations, the teams at service provider Ecolog have been literally overwhelmed with people wanting to be vaccinated, sometimes even having to issue stamps to control snakes . Furthermore, the team even got vaccinated at the Christmas market in the crib.
Mobile vaccination
In addition to the 2022 vaccination station, the city also offered mobile vaccination offers at the weekly market and the Ring Center, which were particularly popular in the free-provided stand areas. Vaccination was administered at the Mainuferfest, Festival of Lights, Kulturfest, Nordendfest and the UND. Mobile vaccination teams were located in aged care facilities, nursing clinics and nursing services. In addition to the district offices as regular stations, 10 schools and workshops in the Hainbachtal were also vaccinated – those who wanted to be vaccinated could also get vaccinated several times easily at the Offenbach food bank, at “Essen und Wärme “, Diakonie, Caritas and Stadtmission. Special vaccination sites included the stadium, the drive-in on the banks of the Main, the Yavuz Selim mosque, the forest swimming pool and the police headquarters in southeastern Hesse. A kindergarten, a youth home, a playground, the weekly market on Wilhelmsplatz and the market on Goetheplatz could also be used for vaccinations.
(Text: PM Municipality of Offenbach)
