Number of Covid-19 vaccinations rises in Switzerland
A clearly marked vaccination centre in Lucerne
Keystone / Alexandra Wey
The number of Covid-19 vaccines administered in Switzerland from March has risen to an average of 23,807 a day, according to the latest figures. That’s up 17% on last week.
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Some 166,650 vaccine doses were given between March 18 and 24, according to the Federal Office of Public Health’s Covid-19 Switzerland websiteExternal link on Friday.
This brings to 1,347,740 the total number of jabs received by the population by March 24. Of these, 506,559 people – or 5.9% of the population – had received both doses. The rest have only received the first of two doses.
Scaling up
On Thursday the Swiss government sought to reassure the public that it was on track to massively scale up vaccination. Swiss authorities have faced mounting criticism over the speed at which vaccines have been arriving.
The government confirmed that it would receive another 8.1 million doses between April and July, enabling anyone who wants to get inoculated to receive a first dose by the end of July. That brings the total number of doses ordered to almost 36 million from five companies.
Health regulator Swissmedic has given the green light to three Covid-19 vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
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Cantons – which are in charge of administering the jabs – are ready for a faster vaccination rhythm, said Rudolf Hauri, head of the cantonal doctors’ association, in a newspaper interviewExternal link on Friday. Cantons should be capable of administrating 130,000-150,000 doses a day, he said.
Friday also saw the publication by the Swiss National Covid-19 Science Task Force of a policy briefExternal link outlining the high economic benefits of an accelerated vaccination campaign.
External Content
Accelerating vaccination is a good investment as it
> allows a quicker return to normal and
> greatly reducing the losses associated with the pandemic – about 50 million for every day gained.
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Swiss prepare for influx of Covid-19 vaccine doses
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The government will receive another 8.1 million doses from April to July, enabling anyone who wants get inoculated by July.
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Media reports indicate that vaccinating everyone who wants to by summer relies on meeting ambitious vaccine delivery targets in spring.
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