Who should get vaccinated and when

KJust before the federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU), wants to sign the ordinance this Friday, which regulates who should receive the corona vaccine first, the Permanent Commission on Vaccination (Stiko), which is based at the Robert Institute Koch, you have the corresponding recommendations. subjected to this. These provide that each citizen is assigned to one of a total of six levels.

At the first level, which has the highest priority, are residents of nursing homes and all people over 80 years of age. These must be “vaccinated at the beginning of the vaccination campaign”, as Stiko explains. In addition, priority is given to medical personnel with a very high risk of infection or who have contact with especially vulnerable groups. Hospital or ambulatory care personnel for the elderly also belong to this level. “The most important risk factor for severe Covid-19 illness is old age,” said Thomas Mertens, president of Stiko. “The model calculations show that vaccination prevents the most serious diseases and deaths if vaccinated first. It is offered to people over 80 years old.”

Not recommended for pregnant women.

If the vaccine is still in short supply, groups of people belonging to the next five levels should be vaccinated one after another. When to move from one level to the next must “be decided locally and depends on the availability of vaccines,” Stiko writes. Level two includes seniors between the ages of 75 and 79, medical personnel at high risk of infection, and people with Down syndrome. It also includes people with dementia and the mentally disabled, as well as the staff caring for these people.

Third place was followed by people between 70 and 74 years old, organ transplants and patients with certain pre-existing conditions. In addition, residents and employees of communal facilities are counted, as well as close contacts of pregnant women, those in need of care, and people at high risk of serious illness. This also includes medical personnel at medium risk of infection and employees of the health authorities. Pregnant women themselves are not on the expert list, as vaccination against corona is not recommended for pregnant women.

Level four includes people between 65 and 69 years of age, as well as patients with previous medium-risk illnesses, including their “closest” contact persons. This also includes teachers and educators. The fifth tier is followed by people who are between the ages of 60 and 64, employees in retail, occupational groups in critical infrastructure, and employees who maintain public safety. This also includes medical personnel at low risk of infection.

All people under the age of 60 who cannot be assigned to any other group count towards level six and receive the vaccine last.

In this way, it should be possible to control the corona pandemic as well as possible. “In the medium term, the goal is to be able to offer everyone the same access to a vaccine against Covid-19,” says Stiko’s recommendation, which was published Thursday afternoon. However, since there will be a shortage of vaccination doses at the beginning, “these should be used to reduce the number of deaths and serious diseases as soon as possible”.

Small changes compared to the first draft

In their published recommendations, the experts deviated only slightly from a first draft that was released in early December. Also in the draft, the Stiko assumed six levels; the age group distribution among these groups remained constant. People with Down syndrome recently entered stage two as, according to scientific data, they are at high risk of developing severe Covid-19. Close contacts and caregivers of people at high risk have also been added to group three. Previously it had been criticized that, for example, insufficient attention was paid to the relatives who cared for them.

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Basically, Stiko warns in his final recommendations on Thursday that a vaccination series that has started and consists of two single doses must always end with the same product. If, in the meantime, vaccines other than the Biontech and Pfizer preparation need to be approved, no different vaccines should be given to people. “Completion of the vaccination series for people who have already received the first of the two required doses of vaccine takes precedence over starting vaccination for new people who have not yet received a vaccine,” advises Stiko. A corresponding quantity of vaccine should be reserved for this.

According to their own information, experts have no evidence that an already suffered coronavirus infection poses a risk during vaccination. Therefore, it is not necessary to pretest vaccinated people for past infection. However, Stiko does not want to engage with the question of whether people who can be shown to have had an infection should be vaccinated again. According to the recommendations, people who have had an infection should “initially not be vaccinated,” according to the recommendations.