Fr, Okt 21st 2022
How Swiss organ donations are becoming more complicated, why Switzerland is destroying millions of Covid vaccines, and more in our roundup of news from October 17 – 21.
President Cassis shakes hands with Ukrainian President Zelensky on Thursday (Photo: Ignazio Cassis’ Twitter account).
Swiss President Cassis visits Ukrainian President Zelensky
Swiss President Ignazio Cassis on Thursday revealed on Twitter that he traveled to Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The aim of the visit was to assess Ukraine’s needs for reconstruction with winter approaching and to add that information to the current reconstruction plan, called the “Lugano Principles.” Cassis discussed how the two countries can cooperate on digital reconstruction for the country, as well as how Switzerland can aid in Ukraine’s ongoing missing persons search. “The goal is to get a picture of the war situation, the humanitarian situation, and the preparatory work for reconstruction on site of the country,” Cassis wrote on Twitter. He underscored that Switzerland will provide humanitarian aid to help the country get through the winter months. When Swiss Parliamentary members traveled to Ukraine earlier this year, the move was highly criticized by those who said it breaks with Switzerland’s historic neutrality in times of war. Mehr lesen.
Mitten im Krieg drängt die Schweiz darauf, die Neutralität zu definieren
The Swiss organ donation controversy gets more complicated
The Swisstransplant Foundation, a registration site for the National Organ Donor Register (NOSR), announced this week that it has shut down its digital system after an investigation revealed it is possible to register people to have their organs donated without their knowledge. The site has been operating since 2018. Swiss public television SRF first revealed the results of the investigation in January of this year. After repeated attempts to solve the security problem, NOSR announced they could not. In May, the Swiss voted to change organ donation consent to “assumed unless otherwise explicitly stated.” The vote also means that a new registration site – one for people who do not want to donate their organs – must be created by 2024. At the end of 2021, nearly 1,500 Swiss were waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, 484 received one, and 72 died before receiving one, according to NOSR. Should a Swiss person want to donate their organs after dying, they should request this in writing and share the document with family members, NOSR says. Mehr lesen.
Schweiz ranks 20th among European countries with highest populations vaccinated.
Switzerland to destroy millions more of Covid vaccines
Swiss officials this week announced they will destroy another 9 million Moderna Covid-19 vaccines that have reached their expiration dates. Since the end of 2020, Switzerland has received nearly 32 million vaccine doses; only 16 million have been administered to Swiss residents, while 3.2 million were passed onto other countries. For reference, Switzerland has a population of 8.7 million. According to Swiss government officials, they over-ordered vaccines in case they encountered issues in receiving enough vaccines. About 68 percent of the Swiss population has had at least one shot and fewer received the recommended two shots – the statistics are low compared to the rest of western Europe. Another 5.1 million vaccines are slated to be destroyed by February if they are not used. Mehr lesen.
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