German government says Covid-19 vaccination will be free of charge

By Rachel More, dpa
Berlin (dpa) – Coronavirus vaccination in Germany will be free of charge, the government said on Friday.

“The vaccination will be free, no matter whether and how someone is insured,” a spokesman for the Health Ministry told reporters in Berlin.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert stressed once again that vaccination will be entirely voluntary, in the face of a small but vocal protest movement that has downplayed the pandemic and accused the government of planning forced inoculation.

The government is planning a “very comprehensive” information campaign to answer all questions relating to the vaccine, Seibert added.

Germany is working to set up hundreds of vaccination centres across the country ahead of the regulatory go-ahead from the European Union for a Covid-19 vaccine.

Old people and front-line health workers are to take priority in the first stage of vaccination.

Six centres are planned in Berlin, including at the former Tegel and Tempelhof airports and at a repurposed ice rink, with a goal of vaccinating 20,000 people per day in the city alone.

It is unclear whether the nation can stick to its target of launching vaccination by the end of the year.

“I would be happy if I had more time,” said Albrecht Broemme, who is leading the project to establish vaccination centres in the German capital.

“At the moment, every door that is opened on the advent calendar makes me more and more concerned because the opening date is getting closer.”

Broemme said Berlin authorities have not yet begun sending out letters inviting people to get the jab.

His team are still working to overcome bureaucratic and logistical hurdles in establishing the centres, as well as developing a security concept to prevent anti-vaxxers from targeting the sites.

Broemme said there was no “concrete evidence” of any such plot, stressing that the measures would be a precaution.