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It is not yet clear when the first corona vaccines will arrive in Germany. But Chancellor Merkel and Health Minister Spahn are hopeful: there will likely be mass vaccinations by the summer.
Chancellor Angela Merkel hopes for a victory over the coronavirus with the vaccines expected soon. However, it is not a matter of a few months, he said in his video podcast. “After more than nine months of the pandemic, we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” said the chancellor. One or more vaccines are expected to be available very soon. “Then we can beat the virus step by step.”
Due to delays in establishing the vaccine supply chain of the German company Biontech and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, there are fewer doses of vaccine than expected in the first weeks. If approval is granted, the first vaccines in Germany can be expected by the end of the year, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn said. The CDU politician promised massive vaccinations for the summer. “As of today, I am very optimistic that there will be mass vaccinations by the summer at the latest,” he told the t-online news portal.
Spahn: Vaccines will soon be available in doctor’s offices too
It assumes that then it will also be possible to vaccinate “nationally” in doctors’ offices. When asked if Germany had ended the worst in the fall, Spahn replied: “If as many as possible take advantage of the vaccination offer: yes.” In all, there are five candidates for vaccine development that with a “certain probability” would be approved by mid-year.
In addition to developments from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, Spahn also included products from Curevac, Astra Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Millions of German citizens could already be immune to vaccines in the spring. At the end of March, “11 million cans of Biontech are realistic for Germany.”
Patient Advocates Warn Against False Hope
The German Foundation for Patient Protection warned against false hopes of a victory over the virus through vaccines. “It is important that as many people as possible get vaccinated,” said board member Eugen Brysch. “This makes it easier to live with the virus.” The possibilities and goals of vaccines are clear: much less severe disease and fewer people dying from and with the virus.
“The simplifications will not take us any further in the public discussion on the vaccination campaign,” Brysch said. The federal government must be careful about this. “Because even the message ‘whoever is vaccinated cannot get Covid-19 and is immune’ is not correct,” Brysch said.
The coalition had stipulated by law that the federal government can set the rules for corona vaccination by ordinance. The risk groups, that is, the elderly and the sick, the employees of the health service and in the central areas of the services of general interest are already mentioned in this law. The German Ethics Council, the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences and the Standing Commission on Vaccination of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) had announced a more precise definition of this prioritization for the period until the end of the year.
Doubts about prescription vaccination
According to a draft of the Scientific Services of the Bundestag, vaccination against coronavirus by regulation is not the correct way. The document available to the dpa news agency states: “The prevailing opinion that prioritizing certain population groups for access to vaccines requires a formal law that regulates at least the essential criteria for the distribution of a vaccine must be approved. scarce vaccine “.
Finally, the Federal Constitutional Court held that, in particular, the relevance of a measure for fundamental rights was decisive for it to be regulated by a formal law. The possibility of obtaining vaccine protection against the cause of the Covid-19 disease is of enormous relevance for the entire population, since everyone is affected equally by the risk of contagion and the consequent restrictions in daily life, according to the draft PDF. -Faction requested by Vice President Stephan Thomae.
