Switzerland Today

Greetings from Bern,

How do you convince resistant people to do what is clearly in their best interests (not to mention the best interests of others)? The Swiss government, embarrassed by one of the lowest Covid vaccination rates in Europe, has today launched National Vaccination Week. Will we “pull out of the pandemic together”, as the campaigns slogan hopes?

Indra Crittin

In the News:  Aspiring politicians have met again after a two-year Covid hiatus at the Youth Session in the Federal Parliament building in Bern. Sustainability was at the top of their agenda.

• A total of 246 young people debated a sustainable future for four days before presenting their demands to the president of the House of Representatives. These included no more domestic flights in Switzerland by 2030, compulsory sustainability education in the school curriculum, and a financial centre with sustainable investments.
• A “special hunt” has been authorisedExternal link on the Niederhorn and in the Grindelwald-Meiringen regions of Bern between November 16-30 because too few deer have been shot this autumn. Such special hunts are only carried out in game areas in which the animal populations are too large and damage young trees. The special hunt for red deer is open to anyone with a deer hunting licence who registers in time, the environment ministry said today.
• From deer to birds. A sad story was reported todayExternal link of animal rescue services finding 165 budgerigars in a home in Zurich after the birds’ owner died. In a case of what’s known as animal hoarding, the budgies had not been kept in a species-appropriate manner and four had to be put down. The others were placed in animal shelters around Zurich.

Keystone / Peter Schneider

Today is the start of National Vaccination Week in Switzerland. Surrounded by pop stars in front of parliament this morning, President Guy Parmelin (pictured) launched the drive to increase Switzerland’s relatively poor Covid-19 vaccination rate.

New mobile vaccination units, information campaigns and special events are set to go live as Switzerland, which has one of the lowest rates in Europe, heads into a week-long offensive to increase uptake.

With around 73% of people aged 12 and older fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and cases climbing steadily – reaching nearly 3,000 on Friday – the government has designated the next seven days as National Vaccination WeekExternal link. It is putting CHF96 million ($105 million) at the disposal of cantons, which are responsible for health matters, to organise a series of events aimed at making it easy for people to get informed and get their shots.

Last week Parmelin said the vaccination rate was still too low to lift restrictions, as infections continue to rise, and he called on the public to do their part. The slogan for the vaccination week is “Pulling out of the Pandemic Together”.

Keystone / Stringer

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has had consequences for Switzerland. Since summer the border authorities have been picking up “significantly more” Afghans trying to enter Switzerland illegally from Austria, the government has admitted.

Whereas in February five Afghans were apprehended illegally crossing the border from Switzerland’s eastern neighbour, in August there were 428, according to a reportExternal link published today by Swiss public radio, SRF. Notably, the number of illegal entries had already risen sharply (to 212) in July, even though the Taliban did not take power in Kabul until mid-August.

The cantonal police in St Gallen, in eastern Switzerland, confirmed the continuing phenomenon. The government’s figures also show that of the 915 people who entered the country from Afghanistan by the end of August, just four were women. Only one in eight Afghans has legally applied for asylum.

The cantonal police warned that to cope with the “enormous fluctuations” in migrant numbers, a lot of staff needed to be kept on standby, “but this can lead to a vacuum in other areas for a short time”.