There may be too little vaccine available for the first quarter of 2022 ..
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has warned in the Bund-Laender Round of Health Ministers about a significant shortage of vaccine doses for the booster campaign. The “Spiegel” reports on this.
Accordingly, Lauterbach is said to have spoken in the conference of a “significant vaccine shortage in the coming year”. This is the result of the vaccination inventory that Lauterbach announced last week. The situation is “extremely difficult.”
According to the report, there is too little vaccine available for the first quarter of 2022. A sharp increase in Omikron cases is also expected in the coming year, against which the booster vaccination is considered particularly important. In addition, the job-related vaccination requirement should take effect from spring.
For example, Germany would only receive a total of 1.2 million doses of the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer in the first two weeks of the new year. Moderna, on the other hand, is supposed to deliver ten million cans per week. However, according to the report, only around 3.6 million vaccine doses per week are available for booster vaccination, as doses are also used for first and second vaccinations.
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Based on the fact that people who have been vaccinated a second time after five months, 50 million people in Germany must have received a booster by the end of January. The number of booster vaccinations is currently 20 million.
“The contract doctors now need clarity quickly,” demanded the head of the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (ZI), Dominik Stillfried, to the Handelsblatt. “There are currently around 4.6 million vaccinations per week in the practices alone, with a total of around 6.4 million vaccination centers.”
This pace is also necessary to have the booster campaign completed by mid-February. “This is the only way to effectively counteract a fifth wave with Omikron.”
More: The federal and state governments want to abolish compulsory testing for vaccinated people with boosters – experts are sharply critical