The first vaccine should be approved in the EU as early as December or at the latest in January. But then comes the next challenge: vaccinating broad sections of society as quickly as possible. Health Minister Spahn already fears distribution conflicts.

According to a first draft of the Ordinance on the right to vaccination of the Federal Ministry of Health, from which the German Medical Journal cites, risk groups and people who work in certain facilities or are treated or cared for there should first receive a vaccination. This probably means employees, patients and residents of inpatient and outpatient facilities, such as hospitals, old people's homes and doctors' offices.

The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO), the National Science Academy Leopoldina and the German Ethics Council have agreed on corresponding guidelines. According to this, priority should also be given to vaccinating those people who come together with a particularly large number of other people and thus further advance the pandemic, for example teachers or police officers. The RBB has analyzed what the distribution could look like in Berlin, for example.

Federal Health Minister Spahn fears distribution conflicts at the start of the corona vaccinations. The CDU politician said during an online discussion in Berlin that he estimated that there will be three million vaccine doses in January, but a double-digit million number of people willing to be vaccinated. You will have to make tough decisions about who will come first. From summer onwards, vaccinations can also be carried out across the board in medical practices. The CDU politician emphasized that there would be no compulsory vaccination.

Why is vaccination first carried out in vaccination centers?

The vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer has to be cooled at minus 70 degrees. This is not possible in pharmacies or in the deep-freeze in doctor's offices. The respective countries are responsible for organizing the around 60 vaccination centers and mobile emergency teams. They also decide where and how many vaccination centers they want to set up. The most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia is planning to have at least 53 vaccination centers, Bavaria with at least 96. Six vaccination centers are to be set up in Berlin - including in a trade fair hall, in the former Tegel and Tempelhof airports and in an ice stadium. It should be possible to vaccinate a high five-digit number of people nationwide every day.

Defense Minister has already assured the Bundeswehr to help with storage and logistics. The federal states organize the vaccination staff in cooperation with the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. For example, active or retired doctors, company doctors, specialists in the rescue service or students could carry out the vaccinations. The immunizations should be recorded anonymously in a central database. With this, the Federal Government and the Standing Vaccination Commission want to check the effectiveness - and also collect reports about possible side effects.

How are appointments made?

Citizens should be able to make appointments in the vaccination centers by telephone and digitally. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians is to develop and operate a corresponding module. This is what the draft of the Ordinance on the right to vaccination of the Federal Ministry of Health provides.

What does the vaccination cost?

The vaccine should be made available free of charge. The Federal Ministry of Health, the federal states and statutory and private health insurance companies bear the costs.

The partial refinancing for the construction and ongoing operation of vaccination centers, including the mobile vaccination teams, is to come from 46.5 percent from the liquidity reserve of the health fund and 3.5 percent from the private health insurance companies - the other half of the costs are borne by the federal states.