Exactly 5,979 coronavirus vaccinations were administered on Saturday alone, according to information from the Lower Austrian vaccination coordination of Notruf NÖ. That was 1,352 more than exactly a week earlier and five times as many as the average.
Most of the vaccinations counted were given in the six vaccination buses traveling across the country. As a local inspection from noe.ORF.at showed, the rush was also great on Sunday. Sometimes there were long waiting times. In Melk, the line of people went back up to 100 meters at times (see picture above).
Some came “not of their own free will”
“I only waited half an hour, that’s not that bad,” reported Harald Cabinet from Leiben (Melk district), who already got his third trick. According to information from Notruf Niederösterreich, about every second vaccination given on the weekend was an initial vaccination. The young Julian Hofmacher from Wieselburg (Scheibbs district) is one of those who have now decided on a first vaccination dose. “The constant testing is already getting too stupid for me. And I thought if my brother goes, I’ll go too. “
Mihai Catalin from Maria Taferl (Melk district) described his decision to be vaccinated now as “not voluntary”. “It has to do with 2-G, of course, because you now need a PCR test at work, because the self-tests no longer apply and you can forget that it works with work. I see it as a must. “
Additional local actions for additional motivation
In addition to Melk, a vaccination bus also stopped at the exhibition grounds in Tulln on Sunday, where a special vaccination campaign was to motivate. So on the weekend, all Tulln people who visited the wellness and health fair and had themselves vaccinated there, could claim their entry fee back.
Another motivation had brought Gabriel Kampner to Tulln to get his first vaccination. “I’m actually about playing soccer with my friends.” In his turn was Anton Chalupa from Ernstbrunn (Korneuburg district). “I just want to finally lead a normal life again and it probably offers a bit of protection. And when I read about the vaccination bus offer on the Internet, I came to Tulln. “
Vaccination centers from Wednesday, no registration required
With more than 5,000 vaccinations per day in the vaccination buses, the rush is “huge” and now much larger than originally planned, said Christof Constantin Chwojka, Lower Austria’s vaccination coordinator. “These numbers are actually double what the vaccination buses were originally designed for.”
As the deputy head of the state, Stephan Pernkopf (ÖVP) announced to noe.ORF.at on Saturday, the vaccination centers, which were temporarily closed in mid-August, will now resume operations early this week – more on this in the restart for vaccination centers earlier than planned ( noe.ORF.at; November 6, 2021).
Chwojka now specified the date. According to him, you will be ready to go on Wednesday. “We are now trying to organize the necessary personnel and material very quickly. The staff will be ready shortly and the material was stored in the summer so that we can get the vaccination centers back into operation within 72 hours of preparation time to be possible.