Around three weeks earlier than announced, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved the second omicron variant-adapted vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer for Europe - a bivalent vaccine that protects against both the wild-type virus and the omicron variants BA.4 and BA .5, which are currently prevalent in Germany.

You could see how happy the Minister of Health was to be able to announce that in Corona times something is going faster than expected instead of having to explain delays and shortages again.

But as so often in the pandemic, good news is followed by at least slight dampeners.

The general practitioners are also pleased that they can offer patients a second adapted vaccine to protect them for the winter months earlier than expected;

but they also have questions that initially remained unanswered: How many doses do they get and when?

Who can, can, should be vaccinated?

What will the Stiko say?

The first deliveries of the vaccine adapted to the BA.1 variant, which was approved at the beginning of September, had sobered the doctors.

Some practices didn't even get a third of the doses they ordered and were promised.

Vaccination appointments had to be cancelled.

This is not conducive to confidence in the vaccination campaign and to motivating the population to get another shot – which is important at least for risk groups.

And as always when it comes to vaccination issues, the recommendations of the Stiko are looked at with great expectation.

Although Karl Lauterbach had announced that these will probably be available by the end of the week, doctors and those who want to be vaccinated still have to be patient.

Stiko will not make any statements about this before the middle of next week, according to their circles.

She herself was surprised by how quickly the EMA gave the go-ahead for the BA.4 and BA.5 adapted vaccine.

End only "if vaccination continues"

It is questionable whether the body, which has often been criticized in the pandemic for being too sluggish, could have been better prepared for the announced vaccines in this case.

Because now the approval and evaluation procedures for corona vaccines (at least as far as the mRNA variety is concerned) are reaching a new level.

Since the new vaccines are only further developed and slightly modified, there is significantly less data, some only from animal experiments, on the basis of which decisions must be made.

That's not very unusual.

This procedure has been used for years by the approval authorities for the annually adapted flu vaccines and has proven itself.

But with Corona it is new.

Perhaps this new approach to approval and assessment is one of the signs that we are actually entering a new phase of the pandemic.

This autumn will lead to what has been preached so often: The virus is now part of everyday life, but severe courses and deaths must be prevented as much as possible - through masks, medication and vaccinations.

The Stiko recommendation will probably also go in this direction.

It is unlikely that she would recommend a booster vaccination with new vaccines for everyone.

In the future it will be part of it - as long as the virus does not change dramatically - that the question arises every autumn: Is a booster vaccination necessary and for whom?

Dealing with it on a scientific basis and taking responsibility will also affect the population and will be part of the "new normal".

Because an end to the pandemic, as promised by the WHO chief this week, can only come, according to him, “if vaccination continues.

Elderly people in particular and health workers should be 100 percent vaccinated.”