Status: 04.07.2021 11:27 a.m.
The vaccination campaign in Germany is stalling. More and more vaccination appointments are not kept – despite the highly contagious Delta variant. Politicians and experts are therefore calling for penalties for those who fail to vaccinate.
The corona incidence figures in Germany are low – but at the same time the particularly contagious delta variant is spreading more and more. The proportion of infections with the variant of all new infections is now 37 percent. The RKI assumes that Delta will become the dominant virus strain in Germany by this week at the latest.
This is also why there is a growing lack of understanding that many citizens do not keep their vaccination appointments. Several politicians are therefore calling for fines for truant vaccinations. “Using a fine would be an important signal,” said the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach in the daily topics. This makes it clear that vaccine must be thrown away if people simply skip vaccination appointments. In addition, these could well have been given elsewhere. Skipping the vaccination “is not a trivial offense,” said Lauterbach.
The Union parliamentary group deputy in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, said letting vaccination dates expire is not only ruthless, but a slap in the face of all those who are currently waiting for the scarce vaccine. “Anyone who is too comfortable to pick up the phone or cancel an appointment with just a few clicks should have to pay for the downtime costs incurred.”
Vaccination appointments are more and more often not canceled or not taken
Rupert Wiederwald, WDR, daily topics 9:50 p.m., July 3, 2021
Unnecessary personnel and vaccine costs
The debate was triggered by the demand of the President of the Berlin Red Cross, Mario Czaja, to introduce a “vaccination deadline tax” of 25 to 30 euros. Czaja im suggested that anyone who missed their appointment for the second vaccination in one of the vaccination centers without refusal should be penalized rbb in front. This is partly common practice with general practitioners. “Unfortunately, we have been experiencing for a few weeks that more and more people do not cancel their registration, even though they have an appointment at the vaccination center. That is rather disagreeable to those who want an appointment more quickly,” said the DRK President.
According to Czajas, five to ten percent of the appointments in the Berlin vaccination centers are now missed. This causes unnecessary costs for the vaccination centers because staff and vaccines are kept unnecessarily. The required 25 to 30 euros “vaccination tax” would by no means cover the costs for staff and vaccine, said Czaja. According to Czaja, the delivery could be regulated via the terms of use for the appointment booking software Doctolib, similar to the cancellation fees for doctors.
In June, the vaccination campaign stalled, especially in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The cancellation of appointments fluctuated on a daily basis between 15 and 40 percent. “That may be related to the vacation time or the fact that appointments are kept with doctors in private practice,” said Health Minister Harry Glawe. But this is a snapshot that will hopefully not become permanent.