Berlin As early as next week, the federal states are to start vaccinating the new vaccine from the US manufacturer Novavax. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Health on Monday in Berlin. The vaccine is to be used primarily in medical facilities. The federal government expects 1.4 million doses this week, which are then to be distributed to the states.
Novavax as a protein vaccine is considered a way of convincing vaccine skeptics to immunize, for example in nursing. There is hope that they will see the vaccine as an alternative to the Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines they have rejected.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said at the end of January that the vaccine could help to implement the facility-related vaccination requirement that will apply from mid-March. “Many are waiting for this vaccine,” he said.
The head of the Central Institute of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Dominik Stillfried, is skeptical. “Novavax could further advance the German vaccination campaign because some people who reject mRNA vaccines can certainly be vaccinated with this vaccine,” Stillfried told the Handelsblatt. “But expectations shouldn’t be too high.”
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Stillfried referred to the latest Cosmo study, according to which 63 percent of the unvaccinated do not want to be vaccinated under any circumstances. In addition, the willingness decreases, the closer a specific vaccination date approaches.
This indicates that the lack of availability of the vaccine is often used as an excuse, Stillfried said. “All in all, Novavax will therefore be a valuable tool in the vaccination campaign, which should also be available in doctor’s offices as soon as possible, but will probably not become a game changer.”
Traffic light argues about compulsory vaccination
The federal government is striving for the highest possible vaccination rate in order to be able to dispense with many corona measures in the coming waves of infection. However, almost 20 million people in Germany are still unvaccinated.
Politicians are hoping for a significantly higher vaccination rate with the new vaccine.
(Photo: dpa)
In addition, the pace of vaccination has been declining for months. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), only 24,000 people were vaccinated on Sunday. A week earlier there were almost 32,000 people.
The current number of vaccination days is always provisional, as not all vaccine doses administered are reported immediately. 75.2 percent of the population have now been vaccinated twice, and 56.3 percent have received a booster vaccination. Due to problems with recording, the RKI assumes that the actual vaccination rate is up to five percentage points higher than stated.
In the debate about general vaccination requirements, the tone in the traffic light coalition has intensified. The deputy head of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, criticized Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP), who had expressed skepticism about the project. Buschmann’s statements were not “legally clean to the end,” said Wiese to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
In addition, “colleague Buschmann” must be clear: “Only those who now increase the vaccination quota for the coming autumn/winter will then continue to have the prospect of opening up.” Wiese is one of the initiators of an application for compulsory vaccination for adults, who also supported Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is striving.
The Minister of Justice had told the “Spiegel” with regard to a general obligation to vaccinate that only “weighty legal interests of the general public such as preventing an overload of the health system” justify such an intervention. “One can doubt whether this is actually still an impending danger,” said Buschmann.
Even if one is assumed, Buschmann wonders whether compulsory vaccination for people over the age of 50 would not be just as effective as one for all adults. FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki, who rejects compulsory vaccination, also said on ARD: “The compulsory vaccination from the age of 18 is dead.” He was convinced that there would be no majority in the German Bundestag in April, “in whatever form “.
Decision on corona measures on March 18th
The question of which protective measures should continue to be possible from March 20th is also open. According to the plans of the traffic light coalition, the planned law for the future Corona basic protection should only be passed immediately before most of the conditions expire.
Read here: Penalties, backtracking, tightening: How Europe is dealing with compulsory vaccination for health workers
On March 9, the key points for the law are to be discussed in the cabinet, as the Handelsblatt learned from faction groups. On March 18, the second and third readings in the Bundestag and in a special session the decision in the Bundesrat should take place.
The federal and state governments had agreed that most of the restrictions should be lifted two days later. From the point of view of the federal states, however, it should still be possible in certain areas to provide proof of the vaccination, recovered and test status. A continuation of the mask requirement in retail, as well as on buses and trains is also in the debate.
With agency material
More: Rapid tests are to remain free for the time being – despite measures being phased out and costs running into the billions