Senate to promote vaccinations for refugees

A notice board stands in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Berlin.

Only a very small proportion of Ukrainian war refugees who have arrived in Germany have received a Corona booster vaccination. Even two vaccinations can only be verified by a minority.

Berlin wants to improve this situation and remove bureaucratic obstacles to this end, as the Senate Department for Health told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. In this way, refugees without photo identification could also be vaccinated. According to the health administration, about 1.7 percent of Ukrainian refugees have received booster vaccinations and about one-third have double vaccinations.

Vaccination centers provide information in Ukrainian

Vaccinations for refugees from Ukraine are possible in the Corona vaccination centers such as in Tegel and in the Corona vaccination places, as well as with established doctors. Educational talks are also possible in Ukrainian at the vaccination centers. According to the health administration, an interpreter service is available there. Biontech, Moderna and Novavax vaccines are used. Educational materials on the mRNA vaccines from Biontech and Moderna are also available in Ukrainian and Russian.

Mobile vaccination teams in shelters

According to the health administration, vaccinations are also offered by mobile vaccination teams in accommodations for refugees. Information on the number of vaccinations for Ukrainian refugees in Berlin is not available to the health administration.

Sputnik V and Sinovac used in Ukraine

In addition to the language barrier, a problem in many cases is the vaccines used in Ukraine. The vaccination rate is about 33 to 35 percent of those eligible for vaccination. According to the health administration, the vaccines Comirnaty from Biontech/Pfizer and Spikevax from Moderna, which are licensed in the EU, and the vaccines Sputnik V and the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, which are not licensed in the EU, have been used in roughly equal proportions for the vaccinations. For the non-approved vaccines, the vaccination series must be started from the beginning.