Vaccine shortage: “fault of those responsible” – WELT

SIn a few days hope had faces, said Angela Merkel (CDU) in her New Year’s speech: “They are the faces of the first vaccinated.” It would be more every day, step by step, the age groups and prioritized occupations would take their turn first – “and then everyone who wants it. I’ll also get vaccinated when it’s my turn. “

When it’s your turn: These words of the Chancellor are a call for patience. Because the vaccination campaign launched by the government after Christmas is actually starting slowly. The reason is the lack of vaccines.

For example, while the United States secured up to 600 million doses of the vaccine made by Germany’s Biontech and the US’s Pfizer. In July, the European Union did not order until November, and then only 300 million doses, which are now found. among the 27 member states. be divided.

The EU followed the strategy of spreading its orders among several companies that had announced their intention to develop a vaccine. But most of these companies are still unable to comply, unlike Biontech and Pfizer. And that leads to the phenomenon that the vaccine that emerged from the research work of the German company Biontech is currently an extremely rare product in Germany.

“I consider the current situation to be a great failure of those responsible,” says Frauke Zipp WELT. “Recently there was still the official commemoration of the dead, now apparently all the days in which human lives could be saved are no longer counted. Now patience is required. ”

Zipp is a physician, director of the Neurology Clinic and Polyclinic at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and a member of the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences, which advises the Federal Government. At the Technology Council, the professor also provides medical knowledge to the Rhineland-Palatinate state government.

Had Biontech offered more vaccines?

Biontech is also based in Mainz. CEO Ugur Sahin and neuroimmunologist Zipp know each other personally. “Why didn’t he order a lot more risk vaccine in the summer?” He asks now. “There were these offers, now we have them available.” As far as they know, “Biontech offered significantly more vaccine doses in late summer.” And with the Behring ships in Marburg, the company bought additional production facilities in September.

Zipp’s calculation: “If I had already asked 60 percent of the population from companies that were already promising at the time, such as Biontech, Curevac, Moderna, AstraZeneca and others, each for 60 percent of the population – for Germany around 100 million cans at around 20 euros each, then that would have been calculated at around 10 billion euros for Germany. ” Many of the vaccines are even significantly cheaper: “That is nothing compared to the sums that must be spent to support the economy. Not to mention the lives that could be saved with early and rapid vaccination.”

Other countries like the United States, Great Britain, Israel and Canada have done so, so the professor, and now could have vaccinated a large part of their population in the spring. Also in Germany, if there is enough vaccine available, 60 percent of the population can be vaccinated in two to three months, Zipp believes: EU countries would have been possible too. “

“What would have been the risk?” Zipp asks. “If all vaccines were effective and safe, you would have too much vaccine, but it could go to the poorest countries.” There would be no harm, instead Germany could have shared an excess of vaccine as an “expression of solidarity”.

Germany could vaccinate more

Now however, SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach could be right: “Without efficient vaccination or therapy, this virus ultimately leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths, counted in Germany alone, before ‘burning out’ due to so-called immunity. All current pandemic measures can only bring about a delay. This saved time should have been used and must continue to be used! “

Zipp assumes that, with the appropriate will, Germany can purchase even more doses of vaccines: “That is still possible, because there are other companies and significantly more capacities for the production of such vaccines than only Biontech has available.” CEO Sahin announced that he would expand his production capacity: “Our new production facility in Marburg may be ready in February, much earlier than planned, and will be able to produce up to 250 million cans in the first half of the year.”

Sahin went on to say that he was also amazed by the EU purchasing policy: “The process in Europe was certainly not as quick and easy as it was in other countries. Also because the European Union is not directly authorized, but the states have a voice. In a negotiation situation where a strong announcement is required, this can take time. “

Criticisms of the opposition

The opposition parties collect the criticisms of the scientists. “Criticism of the vaccine procurement must be taken very seriously,” says FDP Secretary General Volker Wissing WELT. As finance minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, he knows Zipp from the state government’s technology council and, like the doctor, refers to the actions of other countries: “We see in the example of Israel and other countries that it is possible to vaccinate more quickly. . The federal government has to explain very well why things are going so slowly in Germany. ”

The government has allowed parliament to delegate all civil protection powers and therefore “is now fully responsible for protecting life. Under our constitution, no other legal interest can be weighed against this. The federal government has sworn before parliament to prevent harm to the German people. This oath was rarely more current than it is today. “

Left-wing leader Bernd Riexinger also told WELT “a little surprised at the few doses of vaccination that the EU has ordered.” Their demand: “Instead of negotiating with numerous pharmaceutical companies about vaccines whose approval has not yet been clarified, the federal government should quickly issue licenses for the post-production of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine.” That is directly in the hands of the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU).

“You have the right to do just that. Failure to do so puts numerous lives at risk, ”Riexinger said. “Because the mutation of the virus, which we have heard a lot about in recent days, makes one thing clear: a successful vaccination strategy is also a race against time.”

Kordula Schulz-Asche, speaker for infection control in the Green parliamentary group, thinks that “from today’s perspective, it would have been better to order more and different vaccines from the more than 100 developers at risk.” However, he notes that the Biontech vaccine was also still in the testing phase in the summer.

His conclusion: “The EU, together with the Member States, should examine last year’s measures very carefully to be better prepared for the future. However, this also means that there are enough health workers available for vaccination. “