Health Minister Anschober wants to offer nationwide COVID 19 testing

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Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) is aiming for a nationwide option for corona testing.

In the question time of the Bundesrat, Anschober named the “medium-term” goal of offering a test service in every municipality, if possible. The range of test roads has already been massively expanded in cooperation with the federal states, he said. In addition, the minister also announced agreements with the interest groups for tests in companies.

Self-rapid tests to be implemented “as quickly as possible
Anschober wants to implement the already agreed self-quick tests “as quickly as possible”. These “living room tests” his an “important addition” to the PCR tests, including in schools and he assumes that they will be available “very promptly”, said the minister in two-hour questioning in the Bundesrat.

In terms of vaccinations, the health minister said that they were through “as far as possible” with nursing homes and homes for the elderly. In the second half of February all should be supplied here also with the “second sting”. Now it will be the turn of the over-80s. The goal is for this group to be “largely” vaccinated by the end of the first quarter.

Three variants developed for the vaccination plan
For the vaccination plan one compiled now three variants, communicated Anschober – depending upon whether the vaccine of AstraZeneca now presumably on tomorrow’s Friday by the European medicament authority EMA completely, or only partly to be approved or whether the planned delivery quantities are not kept. In this context, Anschober rejected the accusation that the EU had concluded the contracts with the vaccine manufacturers too late. These contracts had already been concluded in August and there were clear contractual claims for the agreed delivery quantities, the minister emphasized.

With regard to the electronic vaccination register, Anschober assumes that 100 percent of all Corona vaccinations will have been entered into the electronic vaccination register by the end of March. Currently, 85 percent are registered throughout Austria, and in some federal states the vaccinations have already been fully registered.

For the planned care reform, the social minister expects the task force set up for this purpose to present its final report next week. This task force is then to be transferred to the Target Steering Commission for Nursing Care, which is then to roll out the reform.