The city of Darmstadt wants to vaccinate 1000 people a day for several months in the “Darmstadtium” congress center. The city is looking for medical personnel to operate.
Darmstadt’s Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch (Greens) speaks of a “glimmer of hope” with a view to the current testing of vaccines against the novel coronavirus. Even the head of Darmstadt does not yet know exactly when the thousands of vaccination doses will arrive in the city, because no serum is currently approved in Germany and the start date for the planned mass vaccination has not yet been set. The Darmstadt vaccination center, one of 28 in Hesse, will – as required by the state – be ready for use by the end of the week. On Saturday morning, several dozen volunteer emergency services took part in a test to try out and analyze processes.
It is planned to vaccinate up to 1000 people a day for several months on the ground floor of the central and conveniently located building. The currently limited conference operations are to continue on the upper floors. In the words of Mayor Partsch, it is also a “signal to the city” that the congress center located in the heart of the city center should function as a vaccination center. The “Darmstadtium” offers “optimal conditions” for this, said Partsch. It is also important to be close to the pharmacy in the city clinic, where in future vaccination doses will be deposited when the temperature is below zero. The plan is to quickly transport the necessary rations from there to the congress center using cooling containers.
Photo gallery: Darmstadt is rehearsing for vaccination
In the Darmstadtium, the city of Darmstadt is testing the upcoming mass vaccinations. Admission to the congress center is regulated with barriers and plastic straps. © Michael Schick
By far: firefighters from Darmstadt simulate the registration procedure on the forecourt in front of the Darmstadtium. © Michael Schick
Anyone who has been invited to be vaccinated must first register. © Michael Schick
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According to Jürgen Krahn, the head of the Darmstadt health department, only people from Darmstadt are vaccinated in the congress center and only those who have previously received an invitation. The country will be responsible for sending the invitations.
After registering at a mobile container of the fire brigade, which was placed on the forecourt of the congress center, the citizens: inside the foyer should first have a fever. At the same time, large stickers on the floor tell you to keep two meters apart. The people to be vaccinated receive a “routing slip”, are registered, informed about the vaccination and, if necessary, they can get more detailed information from a doctor in order to then decide whether they want to be vaccinated or not.
According to the health department manager Krahn, the vaccination itself should take place under medical supervision. Appropriately trained staff, such as paramedics, will take care of three people who receive a dose of vaccine. For this purpose, two vaccination zones with nine places each were set up last week by the team from the congress center and fire fighters with the support of exhibition construction companies.
Mayor Jochen Partsch speaks of a “glimmer of hope”.
© Michael Schick
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After the vaccination, the vaccinated should rest for half an hour in a waiting area. With a documented vaccination certificate, they could leave the vaccination center after less than an hour.
The center should be open seven days a week between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. With full operation, 70 employees are expected to be needed in shifts. According to Mayor Partsch, 300 volunteers have already registered with the city. However, more would be needed.
During the two test runs, it was also tested on Saturday how much time is needed for registration, registration, information and the actual vaccination. It was also checked whether the space required for check-in, medical information and vaccinations were correctly measured. In this way, it should also be found out whether corrections might still be necessary in the technology, reported Partsch, who is also the head of the city’s Covid-19 crisis team.
It is planned to install a traffic light system so that the citizens can easily see which vaccination booths are disinfected and free again. “Of course a few fine adjustments still have to be made, but overall the test run was successful,” said Partsch.
Johann Braxenthaler, the head of the Darmstadt fire brigade responsible for setting up the vaccination center, said he was confident that he would be able to report the readiness of the center to the country by next Friday.
The time until the vaccine arrives is now to be used for training the auxiliary staff, for further test runs and for the search for personnel for the operation of the center. Interested doctors, medical specialists and helpers can apply to the city by email at impfzentrum-personal @ darmstadt.de or by calling 06151/134 514.
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