In order to be able to immunize more people with the available vaccine in a short period of time, there are voices to postpone the second vaccination dose.
Not everyone thinks that is good.
The vaccine manufacturers
Biontech and Pfizer
have communicated from the beginning that their product needs two vaccinations in order to be able to develop the full effect.
However, because this means that only half as many people can be vaccinated with the same amount of vaccine, there are considerations
not to have
the
second vaccination
after three weeks.
In the
UK
, this change in strategy is expected to come very soon.
Berlin - As many as possible, as quickly as possible against the
corona virus
vaccinate: The plan of the federal government and above all of Health Minister
Jens Spahn
(CDU) sounds simple at first.
But since the start of the vaccination shortly after Christmas, various planning hurdles and pitfalls have emerged in the endeavor.
Spahn had to take some criticism.
An important point: Germany must vaccinate faster.
According to the
Robert Koch Institute
, 131,626 vaccinations had been reported by New Year's Eve.
In an international comparison, Germany is by no means at the top.
Instead, failing deliveries made the rounds - with the Ministry of Health remedying shortly afterwards.
In short: how can we vaccinate faster?
Scientists
see a starting point for the second vaccination.
Every vaccinated person should get this so that the vaccine can develop its full effect.
According to the manufacturers
Biontech and Pfizer
this should happen after around 21 days, i.e. three weeks.
But now it is debated whether this second injection could not simply be postponed a few weeks.
Then this
vaccine
could be used
for other people instead of ordering the same people to the vaccination center again.
Consideration for the corona vaccination: If there is a lack of vaccine, only give the first dose
"Since the interval between the two vaccinations can very likely vary within wide limits and the protection is already very good even after a vaccination, it is worth considering
giving the first vaccination first
if there is a lack of
vaccines
," said
Thomas Mertens
, chairman the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) at the Robert Koch Institute.
+
Virologist Hendrick Streeck at a press conference in March 2020 in Düsseldorf.
© imago images / Ralph Sondermann
The Bonn virologist
Hendrik Streeck
sees it similarly
.
"The data have shown that after the first vaccination, the majority of people are protected from the serious illness," he said in the RTL "Nachtjournal".
More specifically, he thinks that a single vaccination will protect more than 50 percent from a severe course of Covid-19.
Peter Kremsner
, Director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, says: “If the effect of the first vaccination does not decrease quickly over time, then the second vaccination could take place later, for example after six months.
We do not know that, yet.
This is also done with other vaccines. "
Corona vaccination: is a huge change in strategy coming?
Great Britain is showing the way
To start with, vaccinating each person only once would mean a drastic
change in strategy
.
It generally requires a certain amount of planning to set appointments per person every three weeks and always have enough vaccine available.
Mertens von der Stiko therefore sees the proposal itself as an additional challenge when planning the second vaccination.
Streeck also thinks such a change in the
vaccination strategy
would have to be carefully considered and discussed.
"It's not an easy decision, but it would be a way to vaccinate more people quickly."
Another country, namely
Great Britain
, is already further along in this discussion.
On Wednesday, the government announced the change of strategy there.
From now on, the second dose should only be administered up to twelve weeks after the first.
This change applies to people who would get their second vaccination after January 4th or who have not yet been vaccinated.
According to a
Guardian
report
, the announcement is causing some
controversy
.
Mainly because of the time and effort involved in scheduling and the cancellation of previously agreed appointments, which the vaccination coordinators now have to deal with.
Vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer: Manufacturers view plans critically - data would not provide any evidence
And there is another difference to the EU
in terms of
the
speed of
vaccination: on the island, for which the Brexit transition period ends on New Year's Eve, two vaccines are already approved: in addition to Biontech / Pfizer's vaccine Comirnaty, the British-Swedish vaccine Pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca and Oxford University.
"Pfizer / BioNTech said that their vaccine was not designed to be used in two shots 12 weeks apart ... 'There are no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days,' they said."
https://t.co/W0ouUx8xSd
- James Bloodworth (@J_Bloodworth) December 31, 2020
The makers of
Comirnaty
don't seem to like the idea of postponing the second vaccination. A statement by Biontech and Pfizer,
quoted
by the
Guardian
and Reuters, said there was no evidence that the first dose worked for more than three weeks. “Data from the Phase 3 study showed that although partial protection of the vaccine appears to begin as early as twelve days after the first dose,
two doses of
the vaccine are required to provide maximum protection against the disease, a vaccine effectiveness of 95 percent. There are no
data
to show that the protection of the first dose is maintained after 21 days, ”it says.
(cibo / dpa)