On December 27, 2020, the first people in Austria and Lower Austria were vaccinated against the coronavirus. Since then, more than three million stings have been administered in the state, 72.5 percent of the population in Lower Austria have a valid vaccination certificate, 42.5 percent have already received the third dose.
The vaccinations were administered “without any problems”, says Lower Austria’s vaccination coordinator and managing director of Notruf Niederösterreich, Christof Konstantin Chwojka, in an interview with “NÖ heute” moderator Katharina Sunk. Vaccination should continue to be carried out in vaccination centers, vaccination buses and during vaccination campaigns in addition to the established area.
noe.ORF.at: Mr. Chwojka, around three million vaccinations have been administered in Lower Austria since the start of the coronavirus vaccination a year ago. Even so, many still seem unsure. What is your experience with side effects over the past year?
Christof Konstantin Chwojka: We administered 3.2 million vaccine doses in Lower Austria, without any problems. The vaccination reactions that we could expect immediately after the vaccination occurred occasionally, i.e. pain at the injection site, increased temperature or fatigue the next day. But the 3.2 million or over 16 million that we vaccinated in Austria show that the vaccination went smoothly.
noe.ORF.at: You have heard again and again from many who have been skeptical up to now that they want to wait for the Novavax vaccine to be approved. It has recently been possible to pre-register for this in Lower Austria. How many actually use it?
Chwojka: We released the registration for Novavax just before Christmas. To date, almost 4,000 people have pre-registered. That’s less than we expected. We expect the first vaccination doses of Novavax at the end of January, although that is not yet certain. I invite everyone who has not yet been vaccinated to speak to their doctor about whether Novavax would be an alternative to vaccination for them.
noe.ORF.at: Let’s stay with the subject of vaccines. At the moment, many are wondering what is the best way to protect them from Omikron. When it comes to booster vaccinations – should you cross vaccinate? Have you already had any experience here?
Chwojka: The third dose protects and the National Vaccination Board recommends homologous vaccination if possible. That means, did I get the first or second dose of Pfizer, then I should take Pfizer, did I get the first and second dose of Moderna, then I’ll take Moderna. We only use the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for the third dose. So once I’ve got the first and second dose of AstraZeneca, I can choose.
noe.ORF.at: Let’s come briefly to logistics. Vaccination centers have been vaccinated again since the beginning of November, and at first there was a great rush. Will you stay with vaccination centers or will you go back to the general practitioners?
Chwojka: Even while we have the vaccination centers in operation, we vaccinate at 600 ordinations or vaccination centers in the established area. That means that a great burden of these vaccinations lies with the doctors in Lower Austria, for which I would also like to thank them very much.
We will continue this way. We will continue to vaccinate in the private practice area, at the vaccination centers as well as in the vaccination buses and vaccination campaigns. We see what Omikron brings us and how many people want to be vaccinated in view of the upcoming vaccination requirement.