That wasn't a nice weekend for Jens Spahn.

The acting Federal Minister of Health was exposed to a storm of indignation.

The reason for this is the decision of the CDU politician to ration the most popular corona vaccine among citizens: those from BioNTech.

Germans trust him the most.

If it is less available than before, this could unsettle the citizens.

And that in turn could slow the speed of vaccinations - of all times, when vaccination gaps are to be closed and the boosters, i.e. the booster vaccinations, should go ahead quickly.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Several health ministers of the federal states have therefore sharply criticized Spahn. A limited delivery of the BioNTech vaccine is "absolutely unacceptable and destroys the necessary trust that citizens must have in us," said Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek from the CSU. So he by no means spared his Union colleagues. Holetschek wants to discuss Spahn's decision with his country colleagues at a switching conference this Monday.

Holetschek can expect that his position will be shared by many. Baden-Württemberg's head of department Manfred Lucha, for example, spoke of a “fatal signal” to place maximum order quantities on the vaccine that “people currently trust most”. On Sunday, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig demanded that the SPD withdraw the announced limit "immediately". You have "no more understanding for this back and forth", Spahn's ministry throw "chunks into the vaccination gear". Many medical associations also protested. The Lower Saxony Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians called on Sunday to revise the "serious wrong decision". She even spoke of a "sabotage of the vaccination campaign".

What exactly happened? Spahn's ministry had informed the federal states last week that only a limited amount of the BioNTech vaccine could be ordered. For doctor's offices there should be 30 vaccination doses per week, for vaccination centers 1020 units. The reason is that 90 percent of BioNTech is currently being ordered. As a result, large quantities of the stored vaccine from the manufacturer Moderna threatened to expire in February. It must be the common task to prevent this by all means, it said in a letter from the Ministry of Health to the federal states.

Spahn said at the weekend that he regrets that the "short-term changeover" means "a lot of additional stress" for many helpers in the doctor's offices and vaccination centers. BioNTech and Moderna are two excellent and highly effective vaccines. There are enough of both to vaccinate 50 million people by the end of the year. He could promise “that everyone who wants to be vaccinated will get a good and safe vaccine”.

However, Spahn's words did not calm things down. According to his ministry, about half of the 50 million vaccine doses are split between the two mRNA vaccines: 24.3 million from BioNTech and 26.1 million from Moderna. However, many citizens have decided on BioNTech - probably also because the vaccine was developed in Germany and the company founders Özlem Türeci and Ugur Sahin are well known for their success. More than 100 million doses of the vaccine from BioNTech were ordered this year, from Moderna half. According to previous studies, the Moderna substance works very well against the delta variant of the coronavirus and is just as effective for booster vaccinations as its German competitor.

However, there are restrictions for some people. According to the recommendations of the Standing Vaccination Commission, people younger than 30 should only be vaccinated with the BioNTech product. In this age group, the risk of certain types of heart inflammation is considered to be slightly higher after vaccination with Moderna. Moderna is also not recommended for pregnant women.

It is true that switching from one vaccine to the other in the event of a booster vaccination is considered unproblematic.

Medical associations point out, however, that a sufficient supply of the agent has been promised by BioNTech and that thousands of appointments have already been made for the administration of this vaccine.

Now vaccination logistics are being thrown overboard because of bad planning in Spahn's house.

One reason for the excess of Moderna vaccine is that it cannot be donated to other countries for contractual reasons.

Millions of doses of the BioNTech vaccine have been given to third countries.