COVID-19 vaccination in Switzerland

After the application was processed with high priority using all the available resources, the head of Swissmedic stated that the vaccine fully complied with the requirements of safety, efficacy, and quality.

On 23 December, 302 days after the first official case, the first patient, a 90-year-old woman from Central Switzerland, was vaccinated in a retirement home in Lucerne.

[11] In March 2021, the Swiss Federal Health Ministry reported that approved vaccine deliveries have increased steadily every month.

[14] In April 2021, there were reports that vaccine administration and production efforts at the Lonza Group plant in Visp have been hampered due to overly stringent immigration rules in Switzerland, reducing the influx of qualified biotech and healthcare workers, particularly with regard to non-EU/EFTA states.

The Valais National Council urged the Swiss federal authorities to create exemptions from the current immigration rules for essential biotech industries.