Berlin company doctors join vaccination campaign

Vaccination campaigns begin in companies on Monday. A number of private and state-owned companies in Berlin are also taking part in the campaign. "Many company doctors are waiting in the wings to finally get started with vaccination starting this week. They can help us reach many people with a low-threshold vaccination offer and convince them to get a Corona vaccination," Economics Senator Ramona Pop (Greens) told the Daily Mirror. In addition, the doctors in private practice would also be relieved.

In order to be able to inject their own employees with the vaccines, the companies had to order vaccine from pharmacies by May 21. Among the state-owned companies, Berlin City Sanitation and Investment Bank Berlin (IBB) will begin vaccinating this week. Berlin Waterworks has already been able to give almost 1400 of 4560 employees a shot since May as part of a pilot project.After model projects, among other things with the Axel Springer publishing house and with Bayer, starting from Monday also further private enterprises want to inoculate employees. According to a survey by the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), around 80 percent of the companies surveyed had said they would take part in the campaign.

"The fact that company doctors are now part of the vaccination campaign is an important step towards containing the pandemic," said Jan Eder, chief executive of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry. However, small and medium-sized businesses in particular need support in this regard. "They often don't have the logistical, human and financial resources to carry out company medical vaccinations on the job."

The Motzen street business network shows how smaller companies can also provide their employees with vaccinations. The companies from the Marienfelde industrial area have joined forces and set up the first inter-company vaccination station in Berlin in a pilot project with the Senate Health Administration. Since the end of May, 1700 vaccine doses have been administered to employees of 36 companies.Each company organizes differently how exactly the vaccination takes place. As a rule, doses are given on a first-come, first-served basis to those employees who respond first to the company's announcement. At BSR, for example, the company medical service always finds out on Thursdays how many doses will be available the following week.The booking codes for the Doctolib portal are then allocated to the individual divisions on a pro rata basis according to the number of employees. There, the distribution to those willing to be vaccinated is organized.Putting a damper on this is the availability of vaccine doses. "Involving company physicians will further increase the pace of vaccination. It comes down to providing them with enough vaccine as well," Pop said.

For the first week, 700,000 vaccine doses are now available in Germany instead of the 500,000 initially planned, explained Alexander Schirp, deputy chief executive of the Berlin-Brandenburg business associations. "The faster additional vaccine is now delivered, the more support company and plant physicians can provide in immunizing the population."

Photo by Luis Melendez