Saturday, February 13, 2021

Vaccination Woes and Possible Fines?

 So, this is how the German vaccination program runs.  There are various 'centers' in operation around each state.  There is a priority listing that says four groups exist, and ranks them for the shot.

We are in category one of the stages and have been there since the week after Christmas.  The people in this stage?  Mostly all of those in 90 or older....medical folks dealing with the Covid folks, etc.  

Well, it came up this week that a number of folks....who would be priority group two, three, or four.....have 'sneaked' in and gotten shots.  The list?  Well.....local political folks, religious folks, firemen and the police.  

Upsetting folks?  Well, it's gotten in the news and the questions got put to national Health Minister (Spahn).  Spahn came out today, and basically said.....there's going to be a review of the mess, and there might be fines in the future....if you got 'out of your priority group'.

So how did this business unfold?  Each day....x-amount of the vaccine is removed from the freezer, and you kinda need to use it up by the conclusion of the day.  If x-number of folks don't show up, or x-number of reservations aren't taken....the stuff is dumped.

These extra folks fell into this group, or they 'mistakenly' felt they were in the top priority group.  Having some authority figure there to take charge and deny folks or to allow some in because of extra vaccine left at 6 PM?  No....in most cases, you don't see that central authority guy there.  

Having some kind of fine dumped on folks?  How much?  Unknown.  My humble guess is that Spahn will just make up a number....like 80 Euro.  In that case.....most folks are so fearful of the virus....they'd gladly pay 80 Euro (I might be willing to go up to around 400 Euro myself....my German wife would freak out and try to tell me that the 'bribe' shouldn't be more than 20 Euro).

Again, it's one of those 99 silly things that has come up over the virus, and how things just don't run the way you'd think.  

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