Strategies against vaccination fatigue: There is a risk of vaccination doses expiring in medical practices

The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians observed corona vaccination fatigue in some regions.

In the vaccination centers in particular, the frequency of vaccinations is going down significantly.

Statutory health insurance chief Andreas Gassen explained that there was "a relevant number of people who simply do not want to be vaccinated".

People who are not interested can be “pushed a bit”, for example by having citizen tests soon become chargeable for everyone who could theoretically also be vaccinated.

"Vaccination is the best individual protection," he emphasized.

Disposal of unused vaccines

According to Gassen, there is a risk that the vaccine will have to be thrown away because it is only offered in larger bottles.

In order to fully use a vial, six vaccinated patients would have to come in a short time.

But that is the case less and less.

"It would be important that the industry offers this vaccine in single doses," said Gassen.

"Otherwise vaccination doses will expire."

Some of the vaccine doses from Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which are currently more difficult to obtain, may have to be disposed of.

"You will have to live with that."

Currently, more than 60 percent of people in Germany have received at least one dose of vaccine against the Covid-19 disease.

Almost 50 percent are already fully vaccinated.

Every fifth vaccination appointment in Hesse not attended

In the Hessian vaccination centers, more and more agreed vaccination appointments have recently not been taken.

The average rate was recently around 20 percent of missed appointments, said the Ministry of the Interior in Wiesbaden.

Nevertheless, as a rule, no vaccine had to be disposed of unused due to the short-term non-appearance of the citizens.

Only as many injection vials would be prepared on site in the centers as can actually be used in the future.

The country is currently not aware of any cases of vaccine destruction due to excess doses that could not be vaccinated.

So far, doses could only have not been used in the vaccination centers in individual cases.

According to the information, the background was mainly contaminated batches.

In order to increase the vaccination rate again, special vaccination campaigns are currently being carried out in the vaccination centers.

For example, students at the university in Giessen or football fans in Frankfurt in front of the stadium are offered an offer.

Bremen has vaccination routes for children

According to Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD), the state of Bremen is increasingly offering corona vaccinations for children. It accepted the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission that the risk of serious illness in children was low and that vaccination was therefore not necessary. That was what Bovenschulte told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. “On the other hand, many parents are very insecure. They would like their children to be vaccinated. ”An offer is made to them:“ We are building a special vaccination route with paediatricians in our centers for this purpose. The parents are then given detailed advice. "

The mayor attributed the success of the Bremen vaccination campaign to the large vaccination centers run by local businesses and aid organizations.

"In our call center, the vast majority of callers do not even end up on hold, but are put through directly." In the smallest federal state, almost 70 percent of the population have been vaccinated once, 53.5 percent have full vaccination protection as of Wednesday.

Companies and universities should ensure more vaccinations

The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians demanded more commitment from large companies and universities in the vaccination campaign.

"Big employers can intervene even more, just like the universities, when the semesters start again," said Vice-boss Stephan Hofmeister.

"We think that is more suitable than standing in front of the disco with the vaccination bus in the evening."

Booster vaccinations in autumn are only necessary for people over the age of 75 and for the chronically ill with drugs that suppress the immune system.

"Healthy 20 to 60-year-olds, on the other hand, are still safe this year," said Hofmeister.

Fully vaccinated people are also well protected from Delta

A British study confirms the high effectiveness of the vaccines from BioNTech / Pfizer and AstraZeneca against the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Two doses of each vaccine are almost as effective against the Delta variant as against the previously dominant alpha variant, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Accordingly, two vaccinations with BioNTech / Pfizer are 88 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness from the Delta variant, compared with 93.7 percent against the Alpha variant.

The double vaccination with AstraZeneca protects 67 percent effectively against the Delta variant, compared with 74.5 percent against the Alpha variant.