Drug-checking services with substance analyses help reduce the risks associated with drug use. A study commissioned by the FOPH shows that this service helps protect users from overdoses and adverse reactions to adulterants. The study also underlines the potential of drug checking for identifying vulnerable individuals at an early stage and for monitoring the drug market.

The federal government has signed an agreement with German pharmaceuticals company Curevac and the Swedish government for the delivery of 5 million vaccine doses. The federal government has also signed a preliminary agreement with Novavax for 6 million vaccine doses. This gives the Swiss population access to two additional COVID-19 vaccines - provided the clinical trial phases and Swissmedic approval run successfully. At the same time the federal government has secured a further 6 million vaccine doses from Moderna.

At its meeting on 27 January, the Federal Council took a range of decisions to further contain and overcome the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government will now pay for persons without symptoms to be tested so that those who are particularly vulnerable can be better protected and local outbreaks of infection can be contained early on.

On 12 January 2021 Swissmedic, the Swiss agency for the authorisation and supervision of therapeutic products, approved the second COVID-19 vaccination for the Swiss market. The vaccine from Moderna, of which the federal government has ordered around 7.5 million doses, is suitable for adults from age 18. In the next few days an initial delivery of 200,000 doses will be made to the Armed Forces Pharmacy, which will distribute the vaccine to the cantons. Together with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine approved by Swissmedic on 19 December 2020, around half a million doses of vaccine are available in Switzerland in January. The first priority will be to vaccinate especially vulnerable people.

The number of new infections with the coronavirus has steadily declined in recent weeks. However, the epidemiological situation remains precarious because of the new, more infectious variants of the virus.

At its meeting on 3 February, the Federal Council took the decision to extend free access to the coronavirus vaccination to further groups of people in Switzerland. The federal government will now cover the cost of vaccinations for people who live in Switzerland but do not have mandatory health insurance cover, such as diplomats. The vaccination will also be free for cross-border workers employed by Swiss healthcare and care institutions who are not insured in Switzerland.

Case numbers are stagnating at a very high level and there is a risk that the new more infectious variants of the virus will lead to another rapid rise in cases. In view of the worrying epidemiological situation, the Federal Council decided at its meeting on 13 January to introduce further measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech authorised in the rolling review procedure after close scrutiny of the risks and benefits Swissmedic has authorised the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech. According to the data assessed by the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, the level of protection afforded seven days after the second injection of the vaccine is over 90 percent. This represents the world's first authorisation in the ordinary procedure.