Switzerland extends state-funded Covid-19 vaccine programme
The Swiss state will continue to guarantee Covid-19 vaccines until the middle of 2024.
The Federal Council decided on Wednesday to extend this planned provision until the end of this year, in order to maintain easier access to vaccination.
This still offers good protection against serious forms of the disease, hospitalisations and deaths, the government indicates in a press release. This is a central element in preventing vulnerable people from developing complications.
The costs are covered by compulsory healthcare insurance, the Confederation and the cantons. From mid-2024, the centralised state acquisition and distribution system will give way to ordinary private market structures. This will be able to meet demand, according to the Federal Council.
The latter, however, decided to no longer finance the costs of vaccinations administered in pharmacies from 2024. It believes that family doctors’ offices, hospitals and vaccination centres constitute a sufficient offer.
In Switzerland, the vaccine sector is in principle a free market, the government recalls. Vaccination against Covid-19 is an exception due to the situation since the start of the pandemic.
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