The demand for a booster vaccination is increasing. All appointments in the Berlin vaccination centers in Messe and Tegel are currently fully booked. But the capacities should be increased again. An overview of how Berliners can now get their booster vaccination.
Where can Berliners get their booster vaccination against Covid 19?
In addition to the two large vaccination centers Messe and Tegel, there are other places where the booster vaccination against Covid 19 – booster for short – is given. These are general practitioners, company doctors, but also mobile vaccination stations. The Lichtenberg District Office operates vaccination stations in the Linden Center and the Ring Center. The Central District Office operates a vaccination station in the Alexa shopping center. Vaccinations are also given in the Schönhauser Allee Arcaden and in the Rathaus-Center Pankow from Monday to Saturday. In addition, there are vaccination buses that travel to different locations in Berlin every day. On this Wednesday, for example, one of them will stop at the wholesale market in Beusselstrasse 44 in Moabit from 7.30 a.m. to 1.15 p.m. and one from 10 a.m. to 3.45 p.m. on Strasse des 17. Juni in front of the TU Berlin. The current locations can be found at wirhelfenberlin.de.
Other permanent vaccination centers are located in Lietzenburger Straße 29 on Kudamm or in the Havelhöhe Clinic in Spandau. The Karlshorst vaccination center is also due to open on December 3rd, closing a gap in the east of the city.
Where are there still vacancies for a booster vaccination in Berlin?
Vaccination appointments can usually be booked in the large centers of Messe and Tegel by telephone or online via the Doctolib portal. For a few days, however, this has no longer been possible because “due to the high demand, all availabilities are fully booked,” they say. And: “Please try again at a later point in time.” “We are currently in the process of ramping up our capacities,” says Karsten Hintzmann, spokesman for the German Red Cross Regional Association Berlin (DRK Berlin). The DRK Berlin operates the Tegel Airport vaccination center, among other things. He advises at the end of this week to look again for free appointments. “By the beginning of next week at the latest, we will be able to carry out 10,000 vaccinations a day,” said Hintzmann. At the moment there are estimated to be around 6,000. In the course of this, new dates will be activated again for December.
There is currently still capacity at the Kudamm vaccination center in Lietzenburger Straße – but no earlier than December 30th (as of Tuesday).
Doctolib can also be used to book appointments for the Covid 19 vaccination at private medical practices. However, the current capacity limits have almost been reached here as well. Appointments are often only available for the beginning of 2021. In the Impfpraxis Diagnostikum Berlin in the Gropius Passagen in Neukölln, for example, the next available appointment is given on January 6th, in a group practice in Alt Bukow on February 3rd.
It may be faster without an appointment. The vaccination stations in the shopping centers and the vaccination buses mostly work without booking an appointment. Here comes those who come spontaneously, queue up and be patient. The Messe and Tegel vaccination centers are also open to spontaneous customers. The occupancy rate is shown in real time on wirhelfenberlin.de. On Tuesday, the occupancy rate for spontaneous customers in Messe was at times very high – in Tegel, on the other hand, it was low, especially in the mornings.
Which vaccines are inoculated in which Berlin vaccination center?
Biontech is currently being vaccinated in the state’s own vaccination centers as well as in the vaccination buses and the stations of the district offices. Only in the Tegel and Messe centers do those willing to vaccinate have the option of choosing in addition to Biontech Moderna. That will change soon, however. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn announced restrictions on order quantities for the Biontech vaccine last week. For this, the preparation from Moderna is to be used more frequently for booster vaccinations. That will also have an impact on Berlin. “We were informed that we would have to expect to get significantly less Biontech,” says Hintzmann. “What is clear, however, is that we have enough vaccine to carry out vaccinations that have been promised.” Only there could be a change in the preparation. Even if Biontech has been booked, Moderna may have to be used, according to the spokesman for the DRK Berlin.
Who should get a booster vaccination?
The booster vaccinations are particularly important for people with a restricted immune system and for older people aged 70 and over. “Older and endangered people should now get the booster vaccination first,” said Berlin’s medical president Peter Bobbert recently to the dpa. However, there is no fixed sequence of vaccinations. In Berlin, all citizens aged twelve and over can get a booster vaccination free of charge. Only the distance to the last vaccination against Covid 19 is decisive. The second injection must have been five months ago. With two exceptions: In the case of a first vaccination with Johnson & Johnson, the necessary interval is only four weeks. And the Havelhöhe vaccination center also vaccinates other preparations at an interval of four months.
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