The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Half the staff of Zurich nursing homes snub Covid jabs

nursing home
© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Only 52% of the staff in nursing homes in canton Zurich have been vaccinated, even though the pandemic took a heavy toll on elder care homes.

In an interview with the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, the co-leader of the canton’s vaccination campaign, Gabriela Bieri called the numbers “disappointing”.

Strikingly, when superiors have themselves been vaccinated, the rate was higher.

Bieri gave no fundamental reason for the low rate of staff vaccination in old age and nursing homes but noted that it had been a big challenge to counter vaccine skepticism with facts.

In contrast, doctors were on board with inoculation. Of the 40 working in the municipal geriatric services, only one turned down the vaccine. Pregnant female doctors also skipped the shot.

A vaccination rate of over 80% was achieved among nursing home residents in Zurich. But that alone may not enough to protect them.

“We have indications that the vaccination is partially ineffective in the seriously ill and the very old,” says Bieri. “So we have to continue to be careful.”

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Porrentruy swimming pool: the town's mayor was not expecting such controversy

More

Porrentruy mayor comments on Swiss pool ban controversy

This content was published on The mayor of the Swiss town of Porrentruy, which has been in the headlines in neighbouring France after restricting access to a pool to locals after a spate of anti-social behaviour, says he has received much support in recent days.

Read more: Porrentruy mayor comments on Swiss pool ban controversy
Trained on the “Alps” supercomputer at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano, the new LLM marks a milestone in open-source AI and multilingual excellence, according to its developers.

More

Swiss universities to release multilingual AI programme

This content was published on This summer researchers at Swiss universities will make available a large language model (LLM), an AI programme trained on vast amounts of data, developed on public infrastructure.

Read more: Swiss universities to release multilingual AI programme
Zurich cantonal police introduce fixed online police stations

More

Zurich introduces online police station

This content was published on After a one-year test phase, Zurich's cantonal police are introducing an online police station. Demand is high and the response from the public has been positive.

Read more: Zurich introduces online police station
St. Moritz registers the summer as a brand

More

St Moritz registers ‘summer’ as trademark

This content was published on The chic resort of St Moritz in southeastern Switzerland has registered "summer" as a trademark under the name "St Summer". The resort in canton Graubünden is launching a campaign to strengthen its summer business.

Read more: St Moritz registers ‘summer’ as trademark
House prices rose sharply in June

More

Swiss house prices rose sharply in June

This content was published on The prices of homes and apartments in Switzerland rose again in June. In the Lake Geneva region, prices of detached houses rose sharply. Meanwhile, in Zurich and its surrounding region the opposite trend was observed.

Read more: Swiss house prices rose sharply in June
Heavy crowds expected at Swiss airports

More

Crowded airports expected in Switzerland this summer

This content was published on Switzerland's main airports are preparing for a busy summer holiday period. A number of changes have been introduced to improve passenger flows that are expected to be well above average in July and August.

Read more: Crowded airports expected in Switzerland this summer

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR