It was barely noon, but Steffen Bockhahn’s phone had not stopped ringing with people wanting to know if they qualified for a vaccination, and if not now, when?
Days earlier Germany had changed its guidance on who qualified for vaccines, resulting in a seemingly endless stream of questions from worried local residents to Bockhahn, the health minister for this port city in Germany’s northeast.
“No, I’m sorry, but we are not allowed to vaccinate anyone in Category 2 yet, only those nurses or other caregivers are who are in the first priority group,” he told a caller. “You have to wait.”
More than two months into the country’s second full lockdown, people across Germany are growing tired of waiting.
At the start of the pandemic, Germany showed itself to be a global leader in dealing with a once-in-a-century public heath crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel forged a consensus on a lockdown. Her government’s testing and tracing tools were the envy of European neighbors. Its health care was stellar. And a generally trustful population abided by restrictions with relatively muted grumbling.
No more. In the virus’s second wave, Germany now finds itself swamped like everyone else. A host of tougher new restrictions has stretched on, amid loud complaints, and even occasional protests before everything was shut down again.
For a country used to being No. 1 in Europe — in economic might, with a reputation for efficiency and organization — the turnabout has not been welcomed.
Much of the delay stems from production shortages and Germany’s decision to allow the European Union to negotiate for vaccines on its behalf, as it has for all 27 of the bloc’s member states. But that solidarity effectively penalized bigger, richer countries like Germany.
Merkel’s government has helped BioNTech refurbish a production facility that opened this month, hoping to ease the burden on a Pfizer plant in Belgium. But it will take weeks, if not months, before the increased supply reaches vaccination centers.
Dr. Reinhard Treptow, one of dozens of retired doctors who volunteered in Rostock, has spent more time waiting for doses to arrive than giving people their shots.
“We could be doing so much more,” he said, gesturing to the stalls — now empty — where doctors administer injections at the center. “What we need are more doses.”
By Melissa Eddy
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