After two years, the Ebersberg vaccination center – Ebersberg closes

The gray sofa is still there, it’s in the office on the ground floor, surrounded by moving boxes. Liam Klages spent many a night on it, back then in the first, intensive months of the Ebersberg vaccination center. Klages, who was only 20 at the time, built it up and managed it himself for a year, doing pioneering work and helping to write a bit of contemporary history in the process. At the end of the year, the vaccination center will close its doors, the sofa will be taken away, as will the chairs that were ready for the hopeful vaccinees in the former Sparkasse counter hall. Vaccination booths will look like ordinary offices again. Despite the many 14-hour days and seven-day weeks, Klages looks back on the past two years with nostalgia. “It was the most work-intensive, but also the best time of my life so far,” he says.

What began in December 2020 must seem like a wild roller coaster ride, with ups and downs, in any case extremely exciting. Liam Klages got a call from the district office that the company Tresec, which he founded with a friend, had been awarded the contract to run the vaccination center – a task that did not exist before, in a facility that did not exist before . Before he drove to the district office for the situation briefing the next day, Klages packed the car with “everything I need to live, plus a tool box and a drill”.

It all started with four hopeful vaccinees

A wise decision, because Klages did not see his own apartment in Pullach very often in the months that followed, and then only for a very short time. On New Year’s Eve 2020, Klages worked until 9 p.m. and then went to bed completely exhausted. On New Year’s morning he was back at the vaccination center at 6 a.m. He worked non-stop until the end of March 2021. That he was so young – a fact that caused a sensation throughout Germany at the time – is more likely to have helped him to survive these efforts.

The vaccination campaign in Ebersberg started with almost a bit of a celebration. On the Sunday after the 2020 Christmas holidays, the first four people to be vaccinated arrived at the vaccination center, seniors from the county seat and the surrounding area, all well known in their places of residence. The district office had selected them and also relied a bit on their effect as multipliers. Ultimately, however, only two of them went home vaccinated: Ebersberg’s former fire brigade commander August Paul and the former Grafinger family doctor Konrad Seidl. Medical reasons initially prevented the vaccination of the other two volunteers.

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Especially in the first few weeks, going to the vaccination was something very special for the people. On the one hand, because of the exit restrictions, you could hardly socialize at the time, there was basically no reason to go out, except to go shopping. On the other hand, of course, the vaccination also promised great hope: hope that life could one day return to normal. Usually long before their vaccination date, the predominantly older people came to the vaccination center, were happy to meet old friends again, saw the whole thing as a pleasant event in the boring Corona gray, remember Liam Klages and the current administrative manager Laura von Winterfeld, who was already an employee at the time was on board. This often made the employees sweat because there was limited space for those waiting and pushing in the vaccination center would have been quite counterproductive.

Older people in particular liked to come in traditional costumes or suits – after all, it was a special occasion

At the time, the timing was also underestimated, says von Winterfeld. Among other things, because the vaccinated wanted to appear appropriately dressed for their big moment: Many put on a traditional costume or a suit, which meant that it took a while for the vaccination arm to be uncovered. Next time it would be better to dress less attractively and more practically: this was the request given to many a visitor for the second vaccination.

In the months that followed, things did not go so leisurely in the rooms of the former savings bank headquarters, because the rush was huge and the vaccine deliveries were not nearly enough to meet demand. But when a vaccine was then available, the actors in the district became imaginative: Marc Block, medical coordinator in the corona pandemic, the employees of the corona crisis team in the district office and Liam Klages set up the first and largest vaccination day in the district in May 2021 the legs. At that time, the injections that many awaited were not only available in the counter hall of the vaccination center, but also one floor below, in the underground car park of the Sparkasse building, and in the folk festival hall. Almost 3,000 people, who at the time it was not their turn to be vaccinated, received the first dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccine time was very unpopular for a long time.

Open detailed view

Open detailed view

Open detailed view

In general, the vaccine, an eternal topic. “Sometimes too little, then too much, then the wrong one,” says Klages. In the beginning, many people were dissatisfied that it wasn’t their turn yet – and tried, usually without much success, to push ahead. There were even physical attacks on Klages at times – a well-known Ebersberger has just been sentenced by the district court.

There is no cell phone signal in the vault, which also has its advantages

Liam Klages’ e-mail inbox was overflowing, and the 22-year-old says it wasn’t always fun to read through everything in the morning. “There was a lot of personal hostility among them, people were highly emotional.” Klages went into defense: “I called the people, invited them to us and asked how they thought it could be done better.” That took most of the wind out of their sails.

Everyday work did not allow longer breaks, but at least small escapes: Klages then looked from the canopy of his office on the first floor over the city and at the people waiting in front of the vaccination center, “you could switch off for a moment if you had too much on your plate”, he says. Laura von Winterfeld also liked to go into the former vault to count vaccines or to refill the medicine refrigerators. Not only is it quiet there, the thick walls also block cell phone signals. “You were briefly out of the world,” she says and laughs.

All in all, however, both of them will look back on their time in Ebersberg with great pleasure, not only because they and their team have achieved a lot: almost 190,000 vaccinations have been administered in the past two years. Many of the colleagues have become good friends during this time – that’s the first thing Liam Klages and Laura von Winterfeld say when you ask them about their most important memories from the past two years. “Relationships and friendships were formed here, a lot depends on it. I’m happy and grateful that I was able to be there,” says Klages. Von Winterfeld also tells of the great team spirit among colleagues, young and old, of vacations together, of close friends in the team, of great contacts but also beyond that: to the district office, police, fire brigade and many others.

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Now the time is over, Klages will – after a holiday – devote himself to new tasks in his company, which works in the rescue service, in asylum care and in the security service, among other things. Laura von Winterfeld wants to return to university and complete her teaching degree in biology and chemistry in September – after that, it’s already agreed, the 24-year-old will return to the company.

The vaccination center, which was an important place in the history of Ebersberg for two years, may soon only be seen in old photos: the district wants to sell most of the property, the building is to be demolished and replaced by a smaller administration building.