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Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Immunological protection of the syringe
All the facts, all the facts about corona vaccination
By Martin Morcinek and Christoph Wolf
The great vaccination begins: mobile vaccination teams are swarming all over Germany and vaccination centers open their doors. How many people have already received the first doses of the vaccine? And what are the vaccination rates abroad?
It is a triumph of research, science and cooperation aimed at the common good: less than a year after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, mass vaccination began with the first European-approved vaccine against the potentially deadly disease Covid -19. .
The fight against Sars-CoV-2 is entering a new phase: with the planned establishment of immune protection, the public can for the first time counteract the pathogen more than just ventilation, mask, distance and hygiene. There is a possibility that vaccination will be effective in reducing the transmission of the virus. Now a lot depends on how quickly the immune protection screen can be opened. There is also data updated daily that gives an overview of how many people in Germany have already been vaccinated:
The data from the so-called vaccination quota tracking is not only important for the next steps in the defense against the pandemic and the decision on any relief: to keep an overview and, at the same time, to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures, a series of information collected.
The vaccination teams record the day of vaccination, the vaccine used, the batch number, and the age and sex of the person vaccinated. In addition, there is information on the place of residence based on the postal code and the so-called vaccination indication, that is, if the person in question belongs to a risk group or to another vaccination category. It is also recorded whether it is a first vaccination or already the second, after which only the Biontech vaccine that is currently used is immunized.
These data are entered into vaccination centers and by mobile vaccination teams on site via a special online portal and digitally transmitted to the Bundesdruckerei, where they are temporarily stored on behalf of the RKI and accessed daily by the RKI. “The number of vaccinations carried out (differentiated between the first and second vaccination) must be reported daily,” he says. Information on the regional vaccination rate can also be obtained on this basis.
In Europe, the EU Medicines Agency EMA paved the way for the use of Biontech’s Covid-19 vaccine on December 21. Shortly after, the EU Commission formally granted approval. On December 22, the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) in Germany also approved the vaccine batches. Until now, only the BNT162b2 vaccine developed by Biontech and Pfizer is available in Germany (and also in the other EU countries).
On Boxing Day, a 101-year-old man from Saxony-Anhalt was the first person in Germany to receive a vaccine. Since last Sunday, the largest vaccination campaign in history began in the entire country. The rest of the schedule is precisely defined: in a logistical effort, vaccination doses are frozen and delivered to the federal states. Mobile vaccination teams are available throughout Germany to initially immunize people over 80 years of age in nursing homes and for the elderly, as well as their nursing staff and especially endangered staff in hospitals according to the prepared vaccination strategy.
The procedure follows ethical considerations: vaccination protection must first be offered to those who are at higher risk of developing severe or even life-threatening Covid-19. “Prioritization is necessary because initially there is not enough vaccine available to vaccinate all the people who want it,” says the Federal Ministry of Health.
By the end of January, three to four million doses of vaccines should be available nationwide. Therefore, it will take some time before the majority of people in Germany are vaccinated, which are necessary for real immune protection of the population. Since treatment with the Biontech vaccine involves two injection syringes at an interval of up to three weeks, this means that at the end of the month less than two million people can be given complete vaccination protection.
Still, the timetable is ambitious: a total of 670,000 doses of vaccine will be distributed and used each week in Germany under the direction of state authorities. After the very elderly and especially threatened nurses and doctors, according to the vaccination plan, it is the turn of those over 70 years of age, contact persons of risk groups and emergency services of the police and firefighters. Educators and teachers, for example, only follow in the third category.
Vaccination is paid for by the federal government, installation and organization costs for vaccination centers are borne by federal states and health insurance companies. Deliveries are distributed to the federal states according to their population proportion. 11 to 13 million doses of vaccines are expected for the entire first quarter. Throughout the year, Germany receives more than 85 million doses of vaccines from Biontech alone. More vaccine candidates are about to be approved. If everything passes, Germany can expect a total of 300 million doses of vaccine.
