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The number of vaccinated people is growing slowly; not enough vaccines are available yet. Experts advise on how to vaccinate many people as quickly as possible. An idea: the second dose could be given later.
A few days after the start, discussions continue about the vaccination campaign in Germany. Scientists are considering whether, as in Britain, the second dose of vaccine needed can be given later to vaccinate as many people as possible with scarce supplies.
“Since the interval between the two vaccines can most likely vary within wide limits and the protection is already very good even after a vaccine, it is definitely worth considering giving the first vaccine first if there is a lack of vaccines,” said Thomas. Mertens, chairman of the Robert Koch Institute Standing Committee on Immunization. However, this poses an additional challenge when planning the second vaccination, which must eventually be carried out.
Virologist Hendrik Streeck from Bonn had made a similar statement in the RTL “Nachtjournal”. The data showed that more than half of those vaccinated were protected from severe disease after the first vaccination. However, there must first be a discussion on this approach. “It is not an easy decision, but it would be a way to vaccinate more people quickly.”
Twelve weeks instead of three
On Wednesday, Britain granted the vaccine from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and emergency approval from the University of Oxford as the second vaccine after Biontech / Pfizer preparation. At the same time, the committee recommended that as many people as possible receive only the first dose of both vaccines. The second dose should be injected within twelve weeks instead of the originally planned two or four weeks.
Many UK experts welcomed the decision as a sensible approach to address the vaccine shortage. However, they also noted that the effectiveness is lower after the first dose and it should be seen if the strategy actually works.
Peter Kremsner, director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, believes that the British approach is fundamentally very sensible. “If the effect of the first vaccination does not diminish rapidly over time, the second could also take place later, for example after six months. We don’t know yet. This is also done with other vaccines.”
Schäuble against vaccination privileges
By Thursday morning, a total of 131,626 vaccines had been reported to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Germany. According to the recommendations, these are mainly residents of nursing homes, people over 80 years of age and medical personnel. Compared to the previous day, the number of vaccinated people increased by 51,465, as can be seen from the RKI information. That is not necessarily the number of people who were vaccinated in one day, because this can include late registrations.
Meanwhile, the President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble, has also spoken out against preferential treatment for people who have been vaccinated against the corona virus. “Preferential treatment for people who have been vaccinated carries the risk of dividing society,” the CDU politician told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.”
Schäuble said that “a gap should not be opened” between those who have already been vaccinated and those who have not. The speed of vaccine development is “absolutely impressive.” Therefore, there is hope that production will be even faster than expected. Members of the federal government such as Health Minister Jens Spahn and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had already made similar statements.
Merz sees fundamental rights at risk
The former leader of the Union parliamentary group, Friedrich Merz, who is running for the presidency of the CDU, wants to give more freedom to people vaccinated with the crown. “Basic rights are individual rights, but not collective rights, which the state takes away from everyone if necessary and only returns them to everyone at the same time if the situation allows it again,” Merz told the media group’s newspapers. Funke. “Therefore, it is not possible to deny basic rights in general to a growing population group of vaccinated, healthy and convalescent people, because a smaller and smaller group is still at risk of contracting the virus.”
It is currently unclear to what extent a corona vaccination with the only Biontech vaccine approved so far in Germany not only protects against the disease itself, but also protects other people from infection.
