Luxembourg
On December 4, when Xavier Bettel (DP) and Paulette Lenert (LSAP) had determined, during a press conference, the main lines of the vaccination strategy, some heard in the words of the Prime Minister an invitation for all frontier workers coming to Luxembourg to be vaccinated. However, when we listen carefully to this speech, it appears rather that it is “at the level of the nursing staff that no difference between residents and non-residents should be made.”
What fate will therefore be reserved for cross-border workers following the vaccination plan? Impossible to say at the moment. Nothing is yet defined at government level. “The future deployment will not be communicated until the national ethics commission has issued its opinion on it and the government council has approved it”, explains the Ministry of Health.
Belgium
Vaccination began in January among our Belgian neighbors through nursing homes. A step that was being finalized at the end of the week, in the region near Luxembourg. And this Friday, January 22 began the vaccination of nursing staff in hospitals in the province of Luxembourg. Regarding the next step and the timing for the rest of the population, it remains more vague. The month of April is mentioned for those over 65 and over 45 “at risk”, but without certainty.
A map of the possible layout of future vaccination centers was released this week. And the border region with Luxembourg has not really been spoiled. Thus, towns like Arlon or Virton are more than an hour from the nearest main vaccination center (located in Marche). Four other branches, but of much less importance, located in Arlon, Meix-devant-Virton, Libramont and Houffalize, are also planned, as are seven “mobile centers” which will crisscross the roads of the province of Luxembourg.
It remains to be seen whether this distribution, given as an indication, will be well preserved in the final action plan. Because it provoked reactions on the political level, some worrying to see southern Luxembourg thus a little neglected. And that, even if this map was produced, according to the statements of the office of the Walloon Minister of Health, taking into account the concentration of the population and the need for everyone to be able to find a center 20 minutes from home.
France
In Moselle, it is the CHR (and its two sites in Metz and Thionville) which oversees vaccination. For the moment, five vaccination centers are open: the Mercy hospital, the medical center of the Legouest military hospital and the Claude-Bernard hospital-clinic in Metz; Bel-Air hospital and Notre-Dame clinic in Thionville. In the neighboring department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, only the hospital center of the Hôtel-Dieu in Mont Saint-Martin now vaccinates, while waiting for the Briey hospital to do so too.
It should also be noted that the mayors of cities like Hayange, Florange, Longwy or Jœuf have requested to be able to open communal (or inter-communal) vaccination centers, but the Regional Health Agency has refused.
Since January 4, we have started to vaccinate nursing staff and EHPADs. Before continuing on Monday, January 18 with the reception of over 75 years and people aged 50 to 75 years suffering from comorbidities. For the rest of the population, there is not yet a clear plan.
Germany
These are the different lands which are maneuvering for vaccination. Or the Saar and Rhineland-Palatinate along the Luxembourg-German border. The first has three vaccination centers (Saarbrücken, Sarrelouis and Neunkirchen), the second… 31 in order to cover its 20,000 km2 and 4 million inhabitants.
In the middle of the week, there were more than 18,000 vaccinated in the Saarland. While in Rhineland-Palatinate, it was already nearly 107,000 vaccinations, including 2,362 people who have already received two doses of the vaccine. This corresponds to a vaccination rate of 2.6% of the population. Either the second best in the country.
However, despite these good figures, the situation does not turn out completely as the authorities would like. This is due to the difficulty of suppliers in meeting their commitments in terms of vaccine deliveries. Difficulties also encountered elsewhere in Europe, but which have caused the postponement of tens of thousands of meetings here.
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