Two vaccination centres are opening this morning in Prague, where people can come to get vaccinated without prior registration. At the main train station, adults will get the substance from Johnson & Johnson, which only needs one dose. In OC Chodov, people aged 16 and over can get the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech.
“I am glad that there is great interest in this pilot project,” said Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) after 10:00 today at Chodov. His speech was shouted down by a small group of opponents of vaccination. They are filming the event on their mobile phones and are defending themselves not only against vaccination but also against masks.
A Seznam Zprav reporter on the scene observed a line stretching more than 50 metres long, stretching all the way to the escalators. “We are leaving for Senegal on Sunday and we want to get the second dose. We went to the first one as soon as possible, we didn’t address that. Now the line hasn’t been able to offer us an earlier date, so we’re trying here,” a couple of travellers told Seznam Zprava.
In general, mainly foreigners and self-payers living in the Czech Republic came to Chodov. “We’re going because of my wife, she’s a foreigner and it’s a problem to get her vaccinated. It’s terrible, it affects about five hundred thousand people,” complained a man accompanying his Vietnamese wife.
Babiš added on the spot that he thinks “it is good to try this project, the vaccination centre is for those who are not registered and do not have a deadline. We will be happy if people take advantage of it”.
“I don’t have internet, this should have been done a long time ago”
There was no shortage of interested people at the vaccination point at the main station. “This should have been done a long time ago. Everyone is put off by computers and the internet. I didn’t go until now because I don’t have internet and I didn’t want to bother anyone,” senior Miloš Rabínský.
Another senior who said he had tried to register three times via the Internet but had failed.
However, all the newcomers had to wait for the vaccination to start. “We don’t know when vaccination will start. I guess we are waiting for the Prime Minister, maybe he will inject us,” joked another senior citizen who did not wish to give his name. He arrived with his friend. “Until now, I have been going for various tests. Here, I like that we get one dose and we’ll be done,” his friend praised, referring to the fact that the station administers a single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
Vaccination sites without registration will be open every day, at the station from 12:00 to 19:00, at the mall from 10:00 to 20:00 on weekdays, until 19:00 on the weekend.
“The state is paying for free testing, but there is a big assumption that this will change and the state will not pay for it, so it is a good idea for everyone to get vaccinated,” the Prime Minister warned.