The German nonsense is unfortunately continuing, but is yielding some.

The influential Minister-President of Bavaria (Bayern), Marcus Söder, had suggested that the over-65 negative recommendation for AZD1222 should be waived; he was joined by the MinPres’s of Baden-Wurttemburg,  Hesse (Hessen), and Saxony (Sachsen). See this story from Sunday 2021-02-28.  Those states represent 41.5% of the German population. The Chair of the vaccination commission StIKo has said StIKo is reconsidering.

But apparently no go.

There has been extensive discussion in my state of North-Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in the last few weeks about children’s day-care personnel, and kindergarten and primary school teachers. These groups/schools are back from 21 February (although my housemate Andrea has supervised her full complement of day-care kids all through the phase in which day-care was offered supposedly “on an emergency basis”). The teachers’ organisations have been arguing that, if their members are forced to take the risk, the state should prioritise them for vaccination. I agree. If the state is saying “you must work” and sanctioning those who don’t, then it incurs an obligation to protect those it is thereby putting at risk.

There are still influential people saying “it has been shown” that schools are not a risk. Of course they are a risk. Any such groupings of multiple people from multiple households, except for schools, are strictly forbidden and subject to fairly hefty fines if you do it anyway. Even just once, let alone up to five days a week, every week. One searches in vain for joined-up thinking.

So the teachers were clammering, in my state of NRW. Then the police said – “and what about us?”. I read today that they are in too. Stands to reason. The ambulance services have had or are getting theirs, as health-care workers, and firemen don’t generally have such close contact with the general public.

The new vaccination roster was supposed to be running from yesterday, but in fact it is starting next Monday. Andrea is on at 0800. The sum total of the newly eligible apparently amounts to 750,000 people or so in NRW. I guess those 1.3m doses of AZD1222 sitting around Germany looking for takers are going to be used up pretty quickly.

My local newspaper NW is saying that the general over-70’s will be on at … wait for it …. end of April, beginning of May. GB had this group done in January. People I know are starting to complain generally, justifiably, about the bureaucracy involved.