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Zug community tops Swiss ‘best place’ list

The municipality of Hünenberg in the canton of Zug is basking in glory after being named the best place to live in Switzerland.

Zug community tops Swiss 'best place' list
Photo: Zug.ch

The otherwise modest community of 7,656 inhabitants topped a list of 876 municipalities rated for the fourth consecutive year for a list published by Weltwoche, the weekly German-language magazine.

The cantonal tourism office touts Hünenberg for its numerous farming hamlets, a “family-friendly” village centre, a nature reserve and such historic sites as the St. Wolfgang Gothic church, dating back to 1475.

But the Weltwoche ranking, released last week, was more focused on such aspects as the municipality’s low  tax rates, high employment rate, prosperous standard of living and dynamic demographics.

The list was compiled after communities with populations of more than 2,000 people were evaluated by the IAZI real estate consulting firm in Zurich.

Under the direction of Donato Scognamiglio, a professor from the University of Bern, the firm compared the municipalities according to 20 different factors.

One of the key findings was that of the top ten most attractive places to live, all but one were in central Switzerland.

Communities from the canton of Zug nabbed four of the top seven spots.

The village of Risch, with its network of footpaths and cycle tracks around Lake Zug, ranked second, followed by Feusisberg and Lachen (both in the canton of Schwyz) and Cham, which ranked first in 2011, also in Zug.

The only community from French-speaking Switzerland to crack the top ten was Satigny in the canton of Geneva (ranked eighth), which boasts the largest wine-growing area of any Swiss municipality.

Other communities in the top ten included Freienbach (Schwyz), ranked sixth; Steinhausen (Zug), seventh; Fehraltorf (Zurich), ninth; and Volketswil (Zurich), tenth.

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ZUG

Johnson and Johnson deny vaccine will be available privately in Switzerland

Johnson and Johnson have denied claims by Swiss public broadcaster SRF that the company's Janssen Vaccine would be available to private companies in Switzerland.

Johnson and Johnson deny vaccine will be available privately in Switzerland
Photo: AFP

The Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen, produced by American pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson, was approved by Swissmedic on Monday March 22nd.

However, as the government has declined to purchase the vaccine to incorporate it into its vaccine scheme, it is not expected to be publicly available.

On Tuesday, Switzerland’s public broadcaster SRF claimed the vaccine would however be available for private companies to vaccinate their employees.

Johnson and Johnson have denied this, saying their vaccine will not be made available to private entities. 

Here’s what you need to know.

Switzerland approves Johnson and Johnson – but will not purchase any doses

On Monday, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, Swissmedic, gave provisional approval for the vaccine manufactured by Johnson and Johnson (Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen).

This made it the third vaccine to be approved in Switzerland after the jabs from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech. Unfortunately however, this does not mean the vaccine will be available to the Swiss public anytime soon.

While Swissmedic has approved the vaccine for use in Switzerland, the Swiss government is yet to sign a vaccine supply contract with the manufacturer.

As The Local Switzerland reported yesterday, this is primarily because it would only be delivered in the summer “and that is too late for us”, said Nora Kronig, vice president of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). 

READ MORE: Why Switzerland’s approval of the Johnson and Johnson jab will not speed up vaccinations

FOPH had previously announced the country aims to inoculate “everyone who wants it” by summer.

Kronig also said Switzerland is focusing on Pfizer / BioNtech and Moderna vaccines which use the so-called mRNA technology, “which is more effective, especially for vulnerable people”.

Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a different technology.

Does this mean no Johnson and Johnson in Switzerland?

In a report on March 23rd Swiss public broadcaster SRF claimed any private entity wanting to import the vaccine can do so. 

“This means that a company in Switzerland, for example, can now buy this vaccine and have its staff vaccinated,” the media site claimed.

“At your own expense, but quickly and without any bureaucratic hurdles from the canton and federal government.”

However, ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Thomas Moser, the Head of External Communications with Johnson and Johnson in Switzerland, told The Local Switzerland on Tuesday afternoon that the report was “incorrect” and as yet the vaccine would not be available to private entities. 

“In the current situation, J&J works exclusively with national and supranational authorities as well as international organisations such as COVAX to make our vaccine available,” he said, 

“This means that even with Swissmedic approval, direct orders will not be possible for the time being.”

As at Tuesday afternoon, the SRF report remained unchanged

Note: This article was changed on Tuesday afternoon to reflect the clarifications made by Johnson and Johnson directly to The Local Switzerland. 

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