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The terrible news came on Monday evening.
The vaccine from the British-Swedish manufacturer Astra Zeneca shows little effect on seniors, reported "Bild" newspaper and "Handelsblatt".
According to information from coalition circles, the federal government expects an effectiveness of only eight percent in people over 65 and the vaccine may only be given to younger age groups.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is due to decide on the approval of the vaccine on Friday.
A message that found its way very quickly across the German borders.
In the United Kingdom, where the vaccine was developed at Oxford University and injected tens of thousands of times, the news caused a stir.
The British had secured 100 million doses of Astra Zeneca's preparation last summer.
The vaccine was approved there on December 30th and distribution began in early January.
Alongside the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer, it is the second product that has now been used to vaccinate almost seven million people on the island.
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London reacted accordingly indignantly.
“The claims in the German media regarding the effectiveness are insubstantial and false.
Completely freaked out, "" Politico "quoted an unnamed government representative.
Such reports "are expected from the Russians", not from Germans.
The source added: "Now Brexit support will be 90 percent".
As expected, there were many malicious comments in the Brexit-friendly newspapers on Tuesday.
Not only in relation to the Handelsblatt report, but also because of Brussels' threat to block the export of vaccines produced on the continent.
In this specific case, the Biontech fabric distributed in Great Britain is produced in Belgium.
The EU announcement now causes concern that the British could be cut off supplies.
When the British were the first to approve the Biontech preparation last December, Brussels could not hold back its teachings, according to the Daily Telegraph.
And reminds the EU Commission of the words of its spokesman, "This is not a football tournament here, we are talking about people's lives and health".
Such supposed morality "now only looks ridiculous in view of the EU's own aggression and its superstate vaccination nationalism".
Brussels is now trying to use its trade heavyweight to divert attention from the “Soviet incompetence of its bureaucracy”.
"EU bureaucracy kills people"
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"The vaccine chaos is a tragic metaphor for everything that is wrong with the bloated EU bureaucracy that is now killing people," said conservative commentator Andrew Pierce.
The Federal Ministry of Health had already rejected the report of the "Handelsblatt" on Tuesday morning.
At first glance, it appears that things are being mixed up, according to a ministry spokesman: Around eight percent of the subjects in the Astra-Zeneca effectiveness study were between 56 and 69 years old, only three to four percent over 70 years.
From this, however, an effectiveness of only eight percent in older people cannot be derived.
Astra Zeneca had also vehemently contradicted the representation.
What is correct, however, is that fewer older people were involved in the first studies submitted by the group than in studies by other manufacturers.
The discussion has been going on since autumn as to whether the vaccine could also be approved for the very old despite these data.
Spahn said on ZDF that it will be decided next week which age groups will be vaccinated first on the basis of the approval decision and the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission.
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"With the available data from Astra Zeneca, it is not responsible to administer the vaccine to people over 65," says Andrew Ullmann, chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the health committee and professor of infectious diseases WELT.
"So far too few older people have participated in the studies to be able to make valid statements about the effectiveness of the vaccine in this age group."
He therefore assumes that the EMA will only approve the vaccine on Friday for people under 65 years of age.
If it comes to that, the federal government would have to change its vaccination strategy, said Ullmann.
The older generation would then be supplied with the mRNA vaccines and the medical staff with the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
Ullmann also raises the question of why the vaccine is already approved in Great Britain and vaccinated in all age groups.
“The UK either has access to more extensive studies or ignores the insufficient data.
Both would be scandalous. ”Ullmann calls the reports about the supposed effectiveness of only eight percent“ embarrassing ”.
The incident shows that science journalism has yet to be built up in Germany, said the infectiologist.