According to the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), citizens in Germany will have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus again at the latest next year.
“The virus will not leave us again.
The current corona vaccinations will therefore not be the last, ”said Stiko chairman Thomas Mertens to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"Basically, we have to be prepared for the fact that everyone may have to refresh their vaccination protection in the next year."
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach expects that immunity will last around six months after a vaccination.
The first refreshment will therefore be due for some in the fall, he told the Funke newspapers.
Should mutations spread in Germany against which the current vaccines are not as effective, one may have to start an adapted vaccine earlier.
Work on modified vaccines has started
The vaccines from Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson did not work so well against the South African variant.
"If this variant spreads widely with us, the affected people should be the first to be immunized better."
Mertens pointed out that the manufacturers say they are already working on modified vaccines that are supposed to be effective against relevant currently known mutants. According to the Stiko boss, it is also conceivable that the vaccination protection in individual groups is already waning or is generally too weak. This could affect individual age groups or people with certain previous illnesses. In patients whose immune defense is controlled by drugs, it could be that a third dose is necessary in the short term, according to Mertens.