June 21, 2021

At the end of May, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences was able to organize an initial vaccination campaign for employees at very short notice, which was very well received. The online appointments were quickly booked up and 200 employees were able to receive their first Corona vaccination with AstraZeneca. Now, a second vaccination campaign was held at HKA last Friday, June 18, 2021, for which students could also register.

The second vaccination campaign on Friday afternoon and evening was also a great success: 350 initial vaccinations with AstraZeneca could be carried out in Building B on the HKA campus, including for 330 students and 20 employees. The newly vaccinated also received a special bonus: they were able to receive their digital vaccination card directly on site. The fact that the students accepted the offer very gratefully is not only shown by the fact that the appointments were quickly booked up. "We received a lot of positive feedback from the students about the campaign," says Andreas Erdmann, safety engineer at HKA. "Many praised the offer and the uncomplicated and fast registration option via online appointment allocation. There is also great interest in further vaccination campaigns."

Science Minister Theresia Bauer praised the inoculation campaign at HKA, saying, "Our goal for universities in Baden-Württemberg is clear: we want to reverse the principle in the winter semester and return to face-to-face study – with digital components. Admittedly, we will not yet be able to occupy the large lecture halls with hundreds of students. But the seminar in presence should become the normal case again in the next semester – lively studying with human encounters, with real social contacts and with joint discourse. One, if not the central key is vaccination. I am therefore very grateful to Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and its cooperation partners for taking the initiative and offering students vaccination opportunities, especially since many do not have a family doctor. Karlsruhe shows what is possible with good cooperation at the university location. I hope that many universities in the state will follow this example, which the state will also support."

The vaccination campaign on the HKA campus was carried out in cooperation with the family doctor's practice Dr. med. Aiman Attrasch and the Congress Apotheke Karlsruhe, which also operates the testing station on the university campus. In addition, several staff members and six trained first responders from the university assisted with the vaccinations on site. "We are very pleased and grateful to be able to offer our employees and students the opportunity to be vaccinated," said President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Artinger. "We would like nothing more than to see a return to normal student life. The vaccination campaigns on campus bring us much closer to this goal."