Every day 30 to 50 people in Berlin are newly infected with monkeypox Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Bundeswehr
By Birgit Buerkner
Every day, 30 to 50 people in Berlin are newly infected with monkeypox. There are currently 761 registered cases, 39 of those affected are hospitalized. The vaccine is there but not given – why?
8,000 vaccine doses have been stored in the Charité for three weeks. They are to be distributed to clinics at the University Hospital, the Department of Infectious Diseases at the St. Joseph Hospital in Tempelhof, and practices specializing in HIV. The selected centers should then inject them into contact persons of infected people and risk groups.
But: “Nothing has happened for three weeks,” says Dr. Heiko Jessen (64), who runs a specialist practice in Schöneberg and has already cared for 150 people affected. “We would like to vaccinate, but have no idea when the vaccine will come.” That’s why his team can’t make appointments. People are also waiting for the vaccine at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
When asked by the BZ, a spokeswoman for Health Senator Ulrike Gote (56, Greens) said about the current status of the planning: “The health administration is now in contract negotiations with the KV Berlin so that the vaccinations in the HIV-focused practices can start as soon as possible.”
Last week Gote announced the start of this week. Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are already vaccinating.
