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A coronavirus vaccine later this year? According to media reports, a German company is far ahead in the global race – approval will be possible soon. It sounds different from the Ministry of Health.
The number of corona infections is increasing, and with them, expectations for a vaccine against the virus. The Federal Ministry of Health cautiously commented on reports that a serum could still be approved this year.
A vaccine is still supposed to be available in early 2021, a ministry spokesman said. “Spiegel” quotes Health Minister Jens Spahn in his new issue saying it could be January, maybe February or March, or even later.
“Bild”: first vaccines possibly this year
The newspaper “Bild” had previously reported that vaccines might be possible earlier. Earlier in the week, Spahn said in a videoconference with federal state ministers of health that BioNTech was about to approve a vaccine. When asked when he expected the first vaccines, the CDU politician said: “That could happen before the end of the year.”
The CEO of Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac, Franz-Werner Haas, does not expect his company’s vaccine to be launched this year. After the BioNTec company from Mainz, CureVac was the second German company to receive approval for a clinical study.
Apparently 60 vaccination centers are planned
As reported by the “Bild”, this week the federal Health Ministry asked state governments to provide delivery addresses for the vaccine before November 10. A total of 60 vaccination centers will be built throughout the country. Spahn had spoken several times about the establishment of such vaccination centers, for example in showrooms.
The background is, among other things, the nature of the expected vaccines. These would likely have to be transported and stored between minus 20 and minus 70 degrees Celsius, the minister said earlier in the month. This requires appropriate devices for delivery and storage, especially since the substances are likely to come in “larger containers,” according to Spahn.
The president of the Permanent Commission on Vaccination, Thomas Mertens, also supports the establishment of vaccination centers. If there’s a prioritization, you can’t burden general practitioners with that, so Mertens. So, for example, you might be faced with the dilemma that you would have to turn down a patient who has been coming for a consultation for a long time, but is not yet online.
Roland Stahl of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians notes: Vaccination centers make sense in cities, less in rural areas. Above all, it must be decided regionally how vaccinations will be carried out. Structures that have already been established to combat the corona pandemic should also be used, for example, corona practices that only treat these patients at certain times.
Spahn: No mandatory vaccination
The ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report on the vaccination centers as it involved internal discussions. Spahn and Research Minister Anja Karliczek last spoke about the first possible vaccines in the first quarter of 2021. The Health Minister advocates that population groups particularly exposed to risks should initially have the opportunity to be vaccinated. There should be no mandatory vaccination.
With information from Sophie von der Tann, ARD capital studio
