EXPLAINED: How Switzerland is speeding up its vaccination programme
With deliveries of millions of vaccines planned from April on, Switzerland’s largest cities are ramping up their infrastructure allowing them to inoculate thousands of people each day.
Swiss authorities have said numerous times that they want to vaccinate everyone who wants it by July.
To accomplish this ambitious goal, some cities have set up vaccination units in big venues where inoculations can be given to thousands of people every day.
One such centre is the enormous Zurich Exhibition Hall, which can administer 4,000 shots daily and opened up on April 6th.
READ MORE: Zurich launches coronavirus vaccination registration to general public
Another is in Basel’s equally large exhibition centre, where thousands of vaccines are given as well.
Now two more cities are opening their own massive venues.
From April 19th, Geneva will vaccinate on the grounds of its Palexpo centre, which will offer a potential injection capacity of 4,000 doses per day.
And Vaud’s capital, Lausanne, is setting up its unit at the Beaulieu conference centre.
But given that cantons have had to slow down the pace of their vaccination programme due to the delay in the vaccine supply in previous months, will there be enough doses to actually inoculate tens of thousands of people each day?
Switzerland is expecting the delivery of 1.5 million doses vaccines in April, followed by 3 million more doses between May and July. If that happens, the country may well meet its July target date.
In all, the government ordered 13.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine, 6 million each of Pfizer / Biontech and Novavax, 5.3 million of AstraZeneca, and 5 million of Curevac. So far, only the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are being administered in Switzerland.
To date, over 1.6 million people have received their shots, of whom 604,312 are fully vaccinated.
READ MORE: Travel agency offers ‘vaccination holiday’ from Switzerland to Russia
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Swiss authorities have said numerous times that they want to vaccinate everyone who wants it by July.
To accomplish this ambitious goal, some cities have set up vaccination units in big venues where inoculations can be given to thousands of people every day.
One such centre is the enormous Zurich Exhibition Hall, which can administer 4,000 shots daily and opened up on April 6th.
READ MORE: Zurich launches coronavirus vaccination registration to general public
Another is in Basel’s equally large exhibition centre, where thousands of vaccines are given as well.
Now two more cities are opening their own massive venues.
From April 19th, Geneva will vaccinate on the grounds of its Palexpo centre, which will offer a potential injection capacity of 4,000 doses per day.
And Vaud’s capital, Lausanne, is setting up its unit at the Beaulieu conference centre.
But given that cantons have had to slow down the pace of their vaccination programme due to the delay in the vaccine supply in previous months, will there be enough doses to actually inoculate tens of thousands of people each day?
Switzerland is expecting the delivery of 1.5 million doses vaccines in April, followed by 3 million more doses between May and July. If that happens, the country may well meet its July target date.
In all, the government ordered 13.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine, 6 million each of Pfizer / Biontech and Novavax, 5.3 million of AstraZeneca, and 5 million of Curevac. So far, only the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are being administered in Switzerland.
To date, over 1.6 million people have received their shots, of whom 604,312 are fully vaccinated.
READ MORE: Travel agency offers ‘vaccination holiday’ from Switzerland to Russia
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