Christmas rest?
It would be nice.
A dispute has broken out between the new and the old federal government over a possible impending vaccine shortage.
According to Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), there is a risk of a shortage of corona vaccines in the first quarter of 2022.
This resulted in an "inventory".
In the next three months, significantly less vaccine will be delivered than currently, a spokesman for the health minister said on Wednesday.
Julia Löhr
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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Werner Mussler
Business correspondent in Brussels.
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Thiemo Heeg
Editor in business.
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He was unable to estimate exactly how many doses will be missing. "Compared to now it is in any case not enough." The Union accused the health minister of dramatizing the situation. "Karl Lauterbach calls fire in order to then play the fire brigade - although he knows that there is no fire," wrote health policy spokesman Tino Sorge to his parliamentary group colleagues in the Bundestag. Jens Spahn (CDU) did not want to comment on the allegations of his successor on request.
What is undisputed: Because of the high number of infections with the Delta variant and the growing spread of Omikron, the need for booster vaccinations is higher than expected. In October, Lauterbach also did not consider a prompt "booster" to be necessary for all those who had been twice vaccinated; it is now generally recommended. Many people who received their second vaccination in the summer are now making appointments at the vaccination centers and family doctors. At the same time, with the introduction of the 2-G rule in gastronomy and retail, the demand for first and second vaccinations has increased. The Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance in Germany (Zi) expects that 54 million vaccination doses will be required for first, second and booster vaccinations in the first quarter of 2022 if the interval between the second and third vaccination is to be six months.With an interval of four months, a total of 57.1 million doses would be required.
Biontech is ready to talk
How many vaccination doses the federal government had agreed with the manufacturers for the beginning of 2022 remained open, as did the question of when the doses still in stock would expire.
As of Monday, almost 2.8 million Biontech and 16 million Moderna cans had not yet been inoculated.
Recently, vaccinators had often received less Biontech than ordered.
However, not all those willing to vaccinate want Moderna's preparation.
Because of possible complications, younger people should get Biontech anyway.
Lauterbach wants to inform about his discussions with the manufacturers this Thursday.
The task force on vaccine production created by the federal government in the spring is of no help, at least in the short term. Its head, Christoph Krupp, a confidante of today's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), had set the goal of building reserve capacities in Europe for the production of 500 million doses of vaccine per quarter. These should be able to be activated if necessary. At the moment, however, the task force is still in the process of “negotiating internationally compatible pandemic readiness contracts with suitable companies”, as a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said, where the working group is located. The contracts should now be in place by the end of March.
The manufacturer Biontech is ready to talk to the current problems: "As before, we will try to support short-term delivery requirements pragmatically by earlier or additional deliveries, if the need arises," said the company. So far, deliveries have been made on schedule and the contract for 2021 has been fulfilled and deliveries have started under the new contract. In the coming year, Biontech and its partner Pfizer will manufacture 4 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine. According to the current status, 12 million doses per month are planned for Germany from January to June, which are distributed between adults and children. Moderna was less specific. One is "still determined to meet the agreed delivery quantities for 2022," said a spokesman. He didn't give any numbers.
4.2 billion cans
The EU Commission wants to help the German government procure additional vaccines.
However, it is apparently not entirely clear in Brussels what the health minister's needs are.
“In general, we still have the main problem that some member states do not get enough vaccine because there is too little vaccination,” it says with a view to countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, where only 25 and 40 percent of adults are “completely” (i.e. twice) are vaccinated.
According to EU diplomats, Member States such as Belgium, France and Spain, in which the booster rate is higher than in Germany, have not yet registered any additional requirements.
The EU has ordered a total of 4.2 billion doses of vaccine for the period up to around mid-2023. Biontech-Pfizer accounts for 2.4 billion doses of this and Moderna accounts for 460 million. The EU has thus secured almost 3 billion doses of mRNA preparations, which are considered the first choice vaccine in Germany. In addition, there are 400 million doses each of the vector vaccines from Astra-Zeneca (AZ) and Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
The EU drug agency EMA is currently examining the effectiveness of two other preparations that the EU has also ordered, Sanofi (300 million doses) and Novavax (200 million).
The Novavax vaccine is expected to be released before Christmas.
The J&J preparation, which is currently being delivered mainly to poorer countries due to its good storability, should also remain usable in the EU and in this respect ease the situation somewhat.
The EU Medicines Agency EMA continues to recommend the vaccine, but considers a booster vaccination every two months to be necessary.
Side effects of the J&J vaccine are not yet known.