Over a third of Swiss-bought Covid-19 vaccines have been administered

So far, the rate of doses administered per 100 inhabitants in Switzerland is 1.97. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Of the 459,700 doses of the vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna delivered to Switzerland, 169,783 have been used so far. 

On Friday, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) finally shared up-to-date nationwide vaccination numbers. After several postponements, the government will now provide information twice a week on vaccination data in the cantons. 

So far, the rate of doses administered per 100 inhabitants in Switzerland is 1.97. In the majority of the country’s 26 cantons, less than half of the doses delivered have been administered. 

The vaccination is below the national average in some of the country’s most populated cantons such as Zurich at 1.62, Bern at 1.11 and Vaud at 1.66. Basel City has the highest vaccination rate at 5.54. 

On Thursday, Health Minister Alain Berset shared that in February the cantons would have to administer 525 doses per day per 100,000 inhabitants. In June, this capacity will have to be tripled to 1,500 doses. The goal is to vaccinate everyone who wants to by summer, but Switzerland’s decentralised approach will make the task more challenging.   

Adverse effects

In the largest vaccination campaign in Switzerland’s history, 42 cases of suspected adverse reactions have been reported so far, according to the medicines regulator Swissmedic. Of these 16 were of a serious nature and included severe skin rashes or marked flu-like symptoms such as high fever, headache, pain in the limbs or a strong feeling of unease,

Five reports were associated with a fatal outcome. In these five cases, the patients were between 84 and 92 years of age and are believed to have succumbed to conditions common in this age group. Despite the close proximity in time between the injection of the vaccine and  their deaths, in none of these cases could vaccination be ruled as the cause of death.