National vaccination week starts early November, says paper

The Swiss government hopes this drive will boost the rate of vaccinated people in the population, which is currently below many other European countries. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

A letter from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) to the Swiss cantons gives details for the national vaccination week, which will start in early November, reports the Sonntagsblick newspaper.

“Berset’s troops will go door to door” with 17,000 anti-Covid counsellors, the paper writes on Sunday. Health minister Alain Berset has put his weight behind this plan, announced by the government on Friday.

The FOPH aims to reach a vaccination rate of 93% among the over-65s and 80% among the 18-65 age group, writes Sonntagsblick, compared with an overall rate of under 60% at the moment. As well as counsellors, it will be deploying mobile vaccination buses to reach 50,000 inhabitants.

Medicine ‘not an alternative’

Lukas Engelberger, president of cantonal health directors, is also backing this vaccination drive, writes the Sonntagszeitung. He says a drug against Covid-19, which some pharmaceutical companies want to bring to market, is not an alternative to vaccination. Switzerland cannot afford to stop vaccinating on the pretext that a drug is on the horizon, he concludes.

The news of a drugExternal link that could halve the number of hospital admissions has caused a stir. In the SonntagsZeitung, the leader of the conservative Swiss People’s Party Thomas Aeschi calls for abolition of the compulsory Covid certificate. Some other politicians are also calling for the certificate – requiring full vaccination or recent testing – to be reconsidered if Covid-19 becomes less dangerous.

The Covid certificate has been compulsory since September 13 for access to indoor public places like bars, restaurants and museums, while many Swiss firms as well as educational institutions are also making it compulsory.