General practitioners want to vaccinate very old people in their practices
18.01.2021 15:15
When the vaccination centers begin vaccinating throughout North Rhine at the beginning of February, family doctors in North Rhine fear organizational chaos and difficulties for their very elderly patients. Five million people nationwide, around half a million people in North Rhine alone, are to be vaccinated outside of old people's homes in the first phase. “The effort and burden for the older population to come to the large central vaccination centers is in no relation to the logistical and financial effort,” explains the chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia Association of General Practitioners, Dr. Oliver Sparks.
Even the central appointment allocation via patient service 116117 is a huge task. In purely mathematical terms, with a maximum telephone capacity of 500,000 calls per week and optimal coordination of vaccination appointments, it will take 10 weeks until the group of mobile older people is vaccinated. “Too slow, too complicated and too expensive,” concludes Dr. Spark.
The general practitioners in North Rhine are convinced that the vaccinations can already be carried out much faster if they take place in the general practitioner's practice. “We family doctors have the most experience in carrying out very high numbers of vaccinations in the shortest possible time. Our practice teams successfully organize flu vaccinations for patients every year.” In autumn 2020, family doctors vaccinated 20 million patients against flu.
Previous experience with reconstituting the Biontech vaccine can simplify and speed up the procedure. “With the Moderna vaccine, handling will be even easier,” emphasizes Dr. Spark
The general practitioner association critically assesses the current vaccination information given to patients. Patients' questions about the new vaccines have been increasing in doctors' practices since vaccinations started at the end of December. “Without comprehensive information beforehand, people will not come to the vaccination centers for vaccination,” fears Dr. Spark. Family doctors play a central role here. “The necessary additional effort for informing patients about vaccinations must also be taken into account separately in the remuneration,” demand the family doctors in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Coordination discussions with the pharmacists' association in North Rhine-Westphalia have also shown that logistics and distribution of both the Biontech vaccine and the other vaccines can also be guaranteed via public pharmacies, especially since, according to the manufacturer, even the Biontech vaccine can be cooled normally in the medication refrigerator of the pharmacies or practices can be kept for five days, i.e. exactly one working week. The total costs for vaccination education and vaccinations at the family doctor as well as distribution and logistics through the local pharmacies are significantly lower than the additional costs now incurred through vaccination centers and additional transport costs, explains the family doctors association.