display
Berlin (dpa) - With the expected delivery of more than one million doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine, the vaccination backlog in the federal states could increase again by the end of the week.
Almost 1.1 million doses of the vaccine are to be delivered by Thursday, increasing the total delivery volume to almost 3.2 million, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute, only around 455,000 people had received a vaccination with the preparation of the British-Swedish manufacturer up to and including Sunday.
The federal government rejected the impression on Monday that the vaccine was simply left unused.
There could be different reasons why Astrazeneca vaccine has not yet been administered, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin.
Vaccine could be delivered relatively fresh at first, withheld for a second vaccination or not yet vaccinated, but intended for certain vaccinations.
display
Over the past weekend around 91,000 people in Germany were vaccinated with the Astrazeneca drug.
If it stays at this rate, almost two million cans could initially remain unused by the end of the week.
In total, over 6.1 million vaccinations against the coronavirus had been administered up to and including Sunday.
The majority is accounted for by the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer.
The federal government is currently rejecting a general release of the Astrazeneca vaccine for people outside the priority groups.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) recently brought up a less rigid prioritization for Astrazeneca in order to reduce the backlog as quickly as possible.
He also suggested on Monday that general practitioners, company doctors or school doctors should vaccinate Astrazeneca outside of the vaccination centers.
"The vaccination jam from Astrazeneca can be resolved immediately," said the board of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch.
There are around six million family carers waiting for their vaccination offer.
"But nothing has happened here so far."
display
According to studies, the Astrazeneca preparation is slightly less effective than the vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna.
In addition, the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) in Germany - unlike the EU Medicines Agency (EMA) - has so far only recommended it for people between 18 and 64 years of age because there are no data on the effect in older people.
However, the Stiko announced that it would reconsider its recommendation as soon as possible.
Then Astrazeneca could also be used for older people.
When it came to publicly vaccinating politicians in order to polish up the image of the Astrazeneca vaccine, the federal government was reluctant.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) currently does not want to be vaccinated with Astrazeneca vaccine on television, as Seibert made clear.
This was suggested by the Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, Carsten Watzl.
Seibert explained that Merkel had repeatedly said that she would be vaccinated when it was her turn.
Merkel is also 66 years old, and the vaccine is currently only recommended for people under 65, according to Seibert.
Berlin's governing mayor Michael Müller (SPD), on the other hand, would be “immediately vaccinated with Astrazeneca”, as he told the German press agency.
Both Seibert and Müller pointed out the safety of the vaccine.
display
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210301-99-644433 / 2
Vaccination rate monitoring by the RKI
Delivery quantities Astrazeneca