The German chancellor always said she would wait her turn to be vaccinated. Jumping the queue in Germany is a serious business, with threats of prosecution for those who don’t wait in line.
Unlike many other world leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has not made much of a fuss about the fact that she has now been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, made by a British-Swedish manufacturer.
The 66-year-old chancellor received the vaccine at the specially installed center in Berlin’s former Tempelhof Airport, which is currently working exclusively with AstraZeneca, a vaccine that is only available to the over-60s in Germany, because of a marginal risk of blood clots. Around 3,000 people a day can currently receive a vaccination there.
The vaccination was announced by her spokesman Steffen Seibert in a post on Twitter, with a simple photo showing her only her vaccination certificate.
Merkel said: “I am delighted to have received my first vaccination today with AstraZeneca. I thank everyone who is involved in the vaccination campaign — and everyone who gets vaccinated. Vaccination is the key to overcoming the pandemic.”