Many cantons are unready for big Covid-19 booster campaign, says paper

Currently, Covid booster jabs are recommended for the over 65s and vulnerable people in Switzerland. Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Cantonal authorities in Switzerland are unprepared for a major campaign to administer booster shots of Covid-19 vaccines to the under-65s, reports the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.

Currently, Covid booster jabs are recommended for the over 65s and vulnerable people; local authorities have started administering doses. There is much speculation in Switzerland about when booster shots will be ready for the under-65s.

According to the SonntagsZeitung newspaperExternal link, many cantons will be unable to offer a third vaccination dose to under 65s until 2022 because they have reduced capacity. Bookings for booster jabs are reserved mainly for older people until Christmas, the paper said after contacting health authorities in Bern, Basel, Zurich and Lucerne.

In canton Bern, for example, much of the vaccination infrastructure used this year has been dismantled and vaccination centres have been closed.

In the paper, Zurich hospital doctor Huldrych Günthard criticises the cantons for their slow approach. He says the army should be deployed to accelerate the booster campaign.

With boosters on the horizon, Tobias Bär, spokesperson for the Conference of Cantonal Health Directors, last week defended the cantons. He told BlickExternal link newspaper that the authorities should be able to handle the demand for boosters.

“Unlike the start of the vaccination campaign a year ago, there will be less pressure this time around,” he declared.

Last week federal health officials announced that a booster jab should be validated soon for people under 65. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Federal Vaccination Commission need to adapt the vaccination recommendation.

Health officials say a Covid booster jab should take place at the earliest six months after a second vaccination.

In summer the number of Covid jabs peaked at over 90,000 a day; in recent weeks fewer than 20,000 jabs a day have been administered. Around 65% of the population has been double-jabbed.