Appointments in doctor’s offices: Large rush for child vaccinations

As of this week, children from the age of five can also be vaccinated against Corona. And the demand in pediatricians is apparently high, but so is the need for advice.

A short preliminary talk, a little bit of spades – Sophia Valbonesi is the first child to be vaccinated against corona in the Frankenthal practice by pediatrician Lothar Maurer. The five-year-old has no previous illnesses, but her parents have already decided to have the vaccination. Father Alessio Valbonesi says that he has the impression that the serious disease progression has been increasing worryingly, even in young children. “It is important to me, if possible, to protect the children from it.”

The demand is great: 34 children are vaccinated here on the first day alone. And it looks like in Frankenthal in many pediatric practices nationwide. The 2.5 million vaccine doses that have been delivered are likely to be vaccinated quickly. The spokesman for the professional association of paediatricians, Jakob Maske, said there was a great rush for vaccination offers in pediatric practices. Parents of healthy children between the ages of five and eleven are particularly in need of advice. The STIKO had one Recommendation for children with previous illnesses pronounced. For all other children a vaccination should be possible if “individually requested”.

Vaccination on the weekend

“That was to be expected and it is an additional burden on our practice,” confirms Christian Neumann, pediatrician in Zweibrücken in the Palatinate. He received the first 50 doses of vaccine for children at the beginning of the week, but will not start vaccinating the younger children until Saturday – for this he opens his practice on weekends as well. The fear of the Omikron variant ensures that significantly more parents than initially expected make vaccination appointments.

Neumann sees child vaccination in a differentiated way. Politicians are shifting responsibility to parents and children, even though the burden of disease in younger children is low. “We cannot get out of the pandemic by vaccinating the children. The adults are the problem, we need a mandatory vaccination,” said the doctor.

“Children mainly suffer”

The new Green Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Anne Spiegel, on the other hand, considers it a good sign in the fight against pandemics that the vaccinations for children have got off to a good start. “It shows that there are many families in Germany who have been waiting longingly for it and who see that it is important to protect the children too.”

Like Katinka Ballhausen, who is also waiting with her daughter in the practice of pediatrician Maurer that day. “The children mainly suffer.” And during the school closings, everything got stuck with her: “Mother, housewife and still working – it just has to move forward now.”

This is obviously how many parents see it in this pediatrician practice in Frankenthal, Palatinate: Free dates for corona vaccinations for children will only be available again in January.