Vaccine: who gets the million doses brought forward?

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As reported by Austrian media and from the announcement of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Biontech/Pfizer can deliver 50 million doses to the EU – one million of them to Austria – by the end of June instead of the fourth quarter as announced. With this early delivery, the entire vaccination campaign in Austria could shift forward.

The general population under 65 with no occupational or health reasons for prioritization could thus be vaccinated in large part with a first dose before the summer. By mid-July, the government plans to have six million eligible for initial vaccination. If they want to be: As things stand, five million people in Austria are willing to be vaccinated, i.e. two-thirds of the vaccine-eligible population.

The additional vaccine is to be delivered to Austria from the end of April. 100,000 doses of it are scheduled to arrive on April 26. The bulk of the delivery is expected in May, but mainly in June. If the promise holds, this will move the vaccination schedule forward by two to three weeks, according to the Ministry of Health: This is relevant, for example, for the group of the young and quite healthy, which should be vaccinated last (and descending by age). Whereas up to now dates from July were in prospect here, the first sting in June should work out for this group, provided everything works out.

Who will be vaccinated earlier than previously thought?
As is well known, each federal state has its own plan for who will be vaccinated when and with what. In Vienna, the early quantities of Biontech/Pfizer are not expected until June. Thus vaccinations from July are brought forward, June is to become the large inoculation month – in which no prioritization is to be necessary after age or risk factors more. Already in May, healthy people are to be vaccinated more frequently: For example, highly exposed employees of large companies, who will be vaccinated in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and companies, depending on the risk. The failure of Johnson & Johnson, however, has de facto no effect on Vienna’s vaccination tempo: For April, only 10,000 doses of J&J had been expected, everything else was uncertain anyway.

Vienna opens vaccination dates for all at-risk people, is this related to the delivery?
Many young people in Vienna have already been able to register since Thursday, and the city has unlocked 63,000 appointments for at-risk patients. This group will be contacted in the coming days, but can already register at inpfservice.wien.

This group will be vaccinated with Biontech/Pfizer. This has nothing to do with the extra delivery: Currently, almost only Biontech/Pfizer is being vaccinated due to other outages. The rapid opening to all at-risk individuals was made possible because it became apparent that large portions of the high-risk individuals whose turn it was before had already been vaccinated above their age group. In addition, thanks to unused dates, there is vaccine left over that is now available. Currently, around eight to ten percent of appointments in Vienna are not taken – regardless of the vaccine.