Berlin – The corona incidence value for Berlin is going through the roof. The health administration reported 227.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week. In addition to the planned tightening of the 2G rules, rapid vaccination should ensure a decline in the numbers. Therefore, the Senate is planning a new vaccination center in the eastern part of the city. The focus is on the Sports and Recreation Center (SEZ) – the former fun pool of the GDR and East Berlin.
Once again, Albrecht Broemme – the man for all emergencies who was once Berlin’s state fire director – received the order for the search. The 68-year-old already built the Corona hospital at the fair under the radio tower and the six vaccination centers. Only two of them are still open. They are both located in the western part of the city.
Now a third one is to be built in the east of Berlin, as the former vaccination centers in the Arena Treptow and in the Velodrom in Prenzlauer Berg are used for other events. “We are currently looking for a suitable building in Lichtenberg and Friedrichshain,” Broemme told the Berliner Zeitung. In Friedrichshain there is almost only one building: “We have also considered the SEZ.”
Benjamin Pritzkuleit
Intermediate use in times of Corona: This year the SEZ was also used as a test center.
The former GDR water park, which was opened by Erich Honecker in 1981: the popular mega-splash has been eking out a bleak existence for over ten years. People haven’t bathed here for a long time. From time to time the Ostpro fair took place in the past. Otherwise there will be an argument. The Senate wants to use the SEZ site for the construction of new apartments. The investor, who acquired the area in the 2010s for a symbolic euro from the State of Berlin, is against it.
Broemme: The erection of the vaccination booths would be quick in the SEZ
The SEZ would be an ideal place for Broemme to open a vaccination center there: “The construction of the booths and preparation rooms for the vaccination doses could be done quickly.” He sees no problems in reaching an agreement with the SEZ investor.
But why is a vaccination center necessary in the east of Berlin at all? Even if there are some stubborn vaccinees, Broemme believes that due to the rising incidence values, more Berliners want to be vaccinated in the future – and not just with the booster refreshment. “I know a lot of people who were skeptical about a corona vaccination, but now want to get the first and second vaccination because of the current situation,” he says.
Since the two current vaccination centers at the exhibition center and at the former Tegel airport are not centrally located, such a facility is now also needed in east Berlin. With around ten to twelve vaccination booths, the new “vaccination center” should no longer be as large as in the other facilities, as there is a lack of staff, according to Broemme.
But the vaccination center in the exhibition halls will also be removed because the halls will be needed for Green Week at the beginning of next year. The vaccination center will then move to the nearby ICC. Broemme is also responsible for this move and renovation. Around 50 vaccination booths are to be built in the ICC. “We want to be ready by mid-December,” says Berlin’s man for all emergencies.
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