Even before the vaccination centre was halfway functional, we went with mobile vaccination squads to the nursing homes and other community facilities to vaccinate people with the highest priority. Everyone is happy to finally be vaccinated. I have not met any vaccination sceptics. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, the vaccines produced before the approval were used up. Therefore, we had to deal with extreme shortages for weeks until production capacities were further adjusted. Those who are familiar with the situation are nevertheless surprised at how quickly everything happens. Normally, it takes years not only to develop the vaccines but also to build up suitable production capacities. Not only because there is a worldwide demand to be met, but also because the quality, safety, tolerability and efficacy of a vaccine require a complex process. After the first vaccination centre had to close temporarily because of this, I received a call to another vaccination centre that had a need for vaccinators. There, too, I was comfortably accommodated as a foreigner by the German Armed Forces. I took the opportunity to visit Landsberg am Lech and Neuburg an der Donau. Especially the mobile vaccination is varied. We also visited a monastery and a refugee shelter in a former Bundeswehr barracks. Towards the end of the first half of the year, the need was already waning. So I decided to end my stay in Germany at the end of June. Back on my island, on the third weekend in July, I accepted an invitation to a barbecue with a German/Austrian/Swiss group of new citizens on Ilha de Santa Maria, Açores. On my island paradise, herd immunity through vaccination has already been achieved and there are no COVID-19 cases. It’s good to be home again.
