Corona vaccines: Switzerland is late with its neighbors

Corona vaccines: Switzerland is late with its neighbors

Austria wants to vaccinate in January. Switzerland only in early summer because we don’t have an emergency permit for a vaccine.

Bruno Knellwolf / ch media

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is leading the way and wants to start corona vaccines from January. And the first vaccination centers in Germany are already being prepared. In Switzerland there will only be one vaccine in early summer. Virgine Masserey of the Federal Office of Public Health said this Tuesday. Why is Switzerland lagging behind its neighbors?

That has to do with the speed of the approval decision. Actually, there are three vaccines available. Switzerland has ordered vaccination doses as a precautionary measure, but there will be no distribution of vaccination doses without the approval of Swissmedic. This worries the impatient, because vaccination is considered the only realistic way to return to normalcy and there is really no alternative in sight.

Accelerated procedure also in Switzerland

The Swiss medicine authority Swissmedic works with the same procedures as approval bodies in other countries. Swissmedic prioritizes all requests for vaccines or drugs against Covid-19, explains Lukas Jaggi from Swissmedic, “without compromising quality and safety. In Switzerland, the process is running very quickly in view of the pandemic, pharmaceutical companies they send available data from ongoing clinical studies in pre-agreed steps as soon as they are available.

The scientific evaluation of the data is the same in all countries with comparable drug control. When a decision can be made about initial approval is largely up to the pharmaceutical companies themselves. If sufficient data is available for the approval decision, as in other countries, approval can take place just as quickly as in other countries.

Express with an emergency permit is not possible in Switzerland

However, with corona vaccines, it is now faster in other countries because pharmaceutical companies can apply for an emergency permit there. As Pfizer did in the United States last Friday. In Switzerland, such “premature commercialization” of a corona vaccine is currently not legally possible during evaluation, explains Jaggi.

Despite the great urgency of the vaccine, the safety of the Swiss population has the highest priority. A vaccine can only be approved if the documentation shows that the expected benefits outweigh the potential risks. “The data we have verified so far does not allow for a conclusive risk-benefit decision,” says Jaggi.

Not scientifically and ethically justified

Basel epidemiologist Marcel Tanner of the Covid 19 working group agrees: “The results of the study so far are encouraging. But the potential of vaccines can only be assessed once phase III of the clinical trial has been completed. “According to Tanner, emergency approval is not scientifically or ethically justified. This delay, and therefore continued compliance with measures, must be endured, even though the vaccine will be no different in Austria for the time being.

Waiving an emergency approval will not put us in danger. Such a decision is always a weighing of interests. If mortality were significantly higher, as is the case with the infectious disease Ebola, in which 60 percent of infected people die, the weighting of interests would, of course, be different.

Distribution shouldn’t be a problem

Once approved, the vaccine should be distributed as soon as possible. That also depends on the production capacities of pharmaceutical companies. Tanner believes that the logistical challenge of distributing vaccines, first to healthcare workers and then to risk groups, is feasible. To this end, the BAG is working with the cantons to develop a vaccination strategy.