Swiss cruise ship becomes vaccine ‘shot ship’ for lakeside towns

MS Thurgau passenger ship to deliver vaccine doses to Romanshorn, Arbon and Kreuzlingen towns

A man walks near a COVID-19 vaccination centre located aboard the MS Thurgau excursion boat in the harbour of Romanshorn on Lake Constance, Switzerland (Reuters)

An out-of-commission cruise ship has been repurposed as a Covid-19 vaccination centre for thousands of residents in the northern Swiss towns of Romanshorn, Arbon and Kreuzlingen.

The 89-year-old MS Thurgau, which usually holds 500 passengers, has earned the nickname “vaccine vaporetto” by some locals as it will sail from harbour to harbour on Europe’s third largest lake, Lake Constance, to deliver the jabs.

Two vaccination stations on board the ship have the capacity to vaccinate 24 people every hour - one every five minutes - or 168 people each day during a seven-hour shift.

According to Swiss authorities, it can expand to eight stations as more vaccines arrive in the country.

Switzerland’s health minister Alain Berset told reporters on Tuesday, as the first people arrived to receive their vaccines: “I’ve heard of a fondue ship, and a spaghetti ship, but this is my first shot ship.”

Only doses of the Moderna vaccine will be delivered on board the MS Thurgau as the 10-dose vials are easier to prepare in the ship’s small quarters, said medics.

The MS Thurgau will stay anchored in Romanshorn for the first week of operation, followed by two weeks in the larger town of Kreuzlingen. It will then spend a week in Arbon before returning to Romanshorn to deliver the second dose of vaccine to residents there.

Kurt Huber, who lives in the region, told Reuters as he disembarked from the gangway after receiving his jab: “It was perfectly organised. I didn’t even feel the needle.”

He recommended the shot ship to others who may be hesitant about receiving the vaccine, adding: “When you see what otherwise could happen, it’s simply logical.”

Urs Martin, an elected official for the canton of Thurgau, said authorities initially considered creating mobile vaccine centres on buses, but eventually chose to use the cruise ship which has been out of commission due to the pandemic.

“We wanted to figure out just how we could vaccinate as many people as possible, with as few vaccination centres as were necessary, said Mr Martin.

Kurt Huber receives the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the vaccination centre of the Canton of Thurgau located aboard the MS Thurgau excursion boat (REUTERS)

Adriano Mari, of the Hirslanden Group which runs vaccination centres in the canton, told local media that partitions have been put in place in the ship to facilitate different stages of the vaccination process and ensure people “do not cross each other when entering and leaving the ship”.

He also hoped the ship would not have to continue delivering vaccines once it has completed its course.

“Hopefully by then, things will have eased and the ship can return to carrying passengers on its regular route,” he said.

On Tuesday, Switzerland reported just over 1,600 new coronavirus infections, bringing its total to 526,000. Cases of the more transmissible variants of the virus have been doubling every week, and nearly 8,800 people have died since the start of the pandemic.

Additional reporting by agencies