Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Health official urges vaccination patience, expert resigns

vaccine shot
"We expect vaccination to be carried out in the cantons from early morning to late evening and at weekends," says the director of the Federal Office of Public Health. Keystone / Martial Trezzini

The director of Switzerland’s health office has urged patience in the country’s vaccination campaign, saying all at-risk groups should be vaccinated by the end of March.

Anne Lévy, director of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), told Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Saturday she could understand people’s impatience, admitting that the Confederation and cantons are facing logistical challenges. But she said vaccination itself “is not that complicated” and there are enough people who can do it. Everyone in Switzerland who wants to be vaccinated should be vaccinated by summer, she told SRF.

Authorities, and particularly the FOPH, have been under criticism for shortage of vaccines and faulty hotlines. The vaccination campaign kicked off at the end of December with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Lévy said a second shipment of 230,000 vaccine doses has arrived in Switzerland since then, and it expects to approve the Moderna vaccine within the next few days.  

Expert resigns

Meanwhile epidemiologist Christian Althaus says he is quitting the government’s expert advisory group on Covid-19. In a Tweet on Saturday announcing his departure, Althaus criticised politicians, saying they should learn to treat science on an equal footing.

The independent expert group has called several times in recent weeks for the government to take tougher measures against the spread of Covid-19.

More


Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

Two men charged by the MPC with money laundering

More

Two Swiss men charged with money laundering

This content was published on One million francs, 34 million euros and around 830 kilos of gold: this is the fortune that two Swiss nationals are accused of having moved across borders for at least four years.

Read more: Two Swiss men charged with money laundering
Richemont reports lower first-half results

More

Richemont reports lower first-half results

This content was published on Geneva-based luxury goods group Richemont reported a downturn in performance for the first half of its 2024/25 financial year. Both sales and profit declined.

Read more: Richemont reports lower first-half results
Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

More

Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

This content was published on Switzerland has a new tectonic map at a scale of 1:500,000, containing updates to geometry, distribution and nomenclature of the tectonic units.

Read more: Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR