One day, a Telekom employee called a family doctor’s practice in Grafing, says Zornedingen doctor Marc Block. The man from Telekom wanted to know whether everything was okay – a patient asked the hotline whether something was wrong with the telephone line because no one could be reached. “The patient just couldn’t get through because the telephones in the practices are no longer idle.” The anecdote told by the medical coordinator of the private practices in the Ebersberg district and member of the Corona crisis team happened to one of his colleagues. And it could hardly better reflect the enormous rush of doctors’ practices and vaccination centers these days: The corona booster vaccinations are booming. It can be assumed that demand will rise again. Because from now on, anyone aged 18 or over who has been twice vaccinated against Corona can already get their booster vaccination if the last Piks was five months ago – a declaration by the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) on Thursday and a message from the Bavarian State Government this week make it possible. the SZ asked how doctors and staff in practices are doing with this huge demand.
So far, the official Stiko recommendation has been that only those over 70 should be boosted after six months. Most practices and also the doctors from the Ebersberg vaccination center meticulously adhered to it, and people who did not quite meet these criteria were often sent back home. Without vaccination. The reason for this: Should the very rare case of vaccine damage occur, the doctor should have been personally liable. A fact that many people were not aware of – of course, because politicians keep making statements that contradict the applicable medical requirements, says Marc Block. “That ultimately leads to exhaustion in us.”
You can hear that from other places too. Coordinating the vaccinations is no longer a big problem, even if it is already a lot of work in itself, says Irene Lex, senior medical assistant at the Nimmrichter and Müller group practice at the Forstinningen location. They vaccinate 30 to 36 people a day in Forstinning in addition to the regular practice. “We have to do an unbelievable amount of educational work because politicians report something different every day,” Lex explains. People are understandably confused and insecure – and accordingly have many questions. “But it will be difficult for us – we have to pay for it again and really work to the limit.”
You need an appointment again at the vaccination center.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Now the Stiko has expanded its recommendation and the declaration of the Bavarian State Government is linked to an exemption from liability for doctors, as the Corona crisis team manager from the District Office Brigitte Keller explains. The booster offer is valid for everyone over the age of 18 and throughout Bavaria from five months after the second vaccination, both for the public offers of the district, i.e. in the vaccination center in Ebersberg, in the branch in Poing and the mobile vaccination bus, as well as for the general practitioners’ practices. A positive signal for everyone who wants to be vaccinated. For practices and vaccination centers it probably means: More work is rolling towards them.
Nonetheless, as much as possible is vaccinated, both in the vaccination center and in the practices. In the joint practice Nimmrichter and Müller, the goal is to have 1000 more vaccinations by the end of the year, as Irene Lex explains. Of these, she estimates, around 900 would be booster picks – the requests for first and therefore also for second vaccinations are limited. Mainly adolescents, adults can count them on one hand. “There were five this week, and that was a lot.” According to the official figures from the district office, there were 122 first vaccinations on Wednesday. It is not clear how many of these are adults and those under the age of 18.
An Ebersberg family doctor who does not want to read her name in the newspaper is happy about the shortening of the time until the third vaccination. “What I see in vaccination breakthroughs – six months are simply too long,” she says. There is no medical reason that speaks against a booster after five months. That’s what leading scientists say. “To be honest, I have not yet asked my patients about the exact date of the second vaccination,” the doctor continues. In any case, your patient base is predominantly made up of people over the age of 60 and 70. “I think it is important that as many as possible and as quickly as possible receive their third vaccination.” That’s why the boosters now make up the majority of the work in your practice. Only Biontech is used for vaccination. This would avoid discussions, as many people reject other vaccines, and the employees would not have to accept the great expense of having to mix different vaccines differently. “I don’t want to expect my employees to do that.”
According to Brigitte Keller from the crisis team, there are enough vaccine supplies.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Because even so, there are a few other factors that drive up the stress level, as Marc Block explains: In addition to the boosters and the associated high level of educational work, there is also the increased flu vaccinations. Then the season brings the usual colds with it, many sufferers want to be on the safe side and get tested. Since the diagnostic center only tests the asymptomatic, the symptomatic ends up at the practices. And due to the extremely high incidence, the practices now also take over part of the work of the health department. “Understandably, they can’t keep up with the tracking of contacts, so contact people often turn to us and ask: What should I do now?”
The medical routine and emergency care in the district is still given, emphasizes Block. However, if some routine examinations are currently associated with a longer waiting time, he asks for the patient’s understanding. “But most of them are very patient anyway.”
And what about vaccines – could they become scarce if demand continues to rise? “There are no signs of that,” says Brigitte Keller from the district administration. You can hear the same thing from the practices. The vaccination center is in the process of replenishing supplies, said Keller. “No matter what comes, the order of the state government is: vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate – and that is exactly what we do!”