Ralph-Georg Laves was convinced from the start: It is an important step to also offer Covid-19 vaccinations in pharmacies. He therefore sets up four additional rooms in his Feilitzsch pharmacy in Schwabing and does the necessary training with three employees. Laves vaccinates for the first time on February 9th and for the last time in April. The Feilitzsch pharmacy is no longer vaccinated at the moment. “That no longer made sense, otherwise we would have had to throw away vaccines excessively,” says Laves.
97 vaccinations in three months. That’s not much. And yet Laves draws an “absolutely positive” balance sheet. The people who came praised the “uncomplicated procedure”, the speed and the intensive advice. “It’s a huge confirmation,” says the 47-year-old, who believes that the long conversations with people didn’t show “routine” but closeness. In these three months, they have gained a lot of experience in this “completely new area” and now know how to “manage it well” in parallel with normal pharmacy operations.
Also routine in the city center: vaccinations in the Asam pharmacy.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The Bavarian State Chamber of Pharmacists lists 42 pharmacies in Munich as authorized to carry out Covid-19 vaccinations. The Bavarian State Ministry for Health and Care also draws a positive balance. Even if at the beginning of February the daily number of vaccinations “already dropped significantly” compared to the end of 2021, thousands of people got vaccinated in the pharmacy. According to a ministry spokesman, those who wanted to be vaccinated also received “decentralized and low-threshold offers”. And the ministry cites figures from the Robert Koch Institute, according to which 8,676 vaccinations were carried out in pharmacies in Bavaria. Of these, 6.2 percent are primary vaccinations and around 11.6 percent are secondary vaccinations. 42.5 percent were first, 39.7 percent second booster vaccinations.
Medical practices have referred to the pharmacy
Even though the Bavarian Association of General Practitioners had repeatedly spoken out against vaccination in pharmacies and only emphasized again at a press conference in May that vaccination is “medical know-how” with regard to vaccination risks such as a rare anaphylactic reaction in allergy sufferers According to Laves, there was not a single emergency and “no problems with doctors” in the area. “In fact, even the doctor’s offices referred us to us,” says the pharmacist, who is convinced that vaccinations will become established in pharmacies at the federal level.
Peter Sandmann, Munich spokesman for the Bavarian Association of Pharmacists, believes so too. “We are well on the way to making vaccinations standard care in pharmacies.” In other countries like France, this is all a completely normal process. He also believes that the city of Munich relies on this offer from the pharmacies. Especially with regard to the autumn wave, which he believes will definitely come. “Definitely after Oktoberfest.”
The training dates are almost fully booked
Sandmann also addresses the “flu vaccination in pharmacies” model project, which has now been extended to all of Bavaria after initial trials in the Upper Palatinate. According to the spokesman for the Bavarian Association of Pharmacists, cash registers such as the AOK, with which the pharmacies could then bill for the flu vaccination, have signaled approval. In Munich, too, the response to the training courses offered is “already tremendous”. 16 training dates, each with 25 participants, are currently being offered. “And they’re almost full,” says Sandmann. According to the Bavarian State Ministry for Health and Care, a ministry spokesman said, “future flu vaccinations should be carried out by pharmacists in pharmacies as part of standard care”.
Ralph-Georg Laves is also taking part in the flu vaccination again. He has the rooms. And the experience too. It makes sense to have a flu vaccination that you can get at the pharmacy, for sure. “Because who wants to sit in a waiting room when there are flu people already sitting there?”