This is extremely shameful: Before the start of the flu season, the vaccination campaign by the health insurance company is in danger of being a complete failure, especially for people in the risk group over 65 years of age. According to ORF, the vaccine has already been sold out in the federal states of Upper Austria, Tyrol and Styria, and is in short supply in the remaining states. Family doctors are angry, and the consequences for affected patients are not only distressing but also costly.
The cost of vaccination during the health insurance campaign is seven euros. However, if those affected were to go to pharmacies where the second vaccine is (still) available in sufficient quantities, the vaccine would cost them 41 euros. Furthermore, the actual cost of vaccination is 20 euros.
Family doctors are angry and once again have to eat the soup that health bureaucrats bring to them in their offices. Despite the nationwide OGK vaccination campaign, they have to abandon their patients and send them to pharmacies. “It is unnecessary and even unsafe,” says Wolfgang Ziegler, spokesman for general practitioners in Upper Austria.
The health insurance company relies on the experiences of the Corona pandemic, where they learned not to hoard too much vaccine. Now this is not enough. In any case, according to ÖGK, re-ordering is not possible during the current flu season.
