Side effects may well occur after a corona vaccination, but two clinics have now stopped vaccination with the active ingredient from Astrazeneca.
Too many employees called in sick.
Update from February 18, 9:28 p.m
.: In a Braunschweig clinic, a number of employees reported sick after a corona vaccination with the Astra-Zeneca active ingredient.
37 of 88 employees were temporarily unable to work (
see first report
).
The medical director of the clinic, Professor Karl-Dieter Heller, nevertheless advises the Astrazeneca vaccination, as he now told the
FAZ
.
The doctor made it clear that his employees were fine again shortly after the symptoms appeared: “On Monday everyone was able to work again.
Most of them felt good again on Saturday.
Nobody was harmed. ”Nevertheless, Heller was surprised by the extent of the side effects:“ We had expected side effects in ten to 15 percent of employees, but ended up with 40 percent. ”
However, this effect is not a cause for concern - on the contrary.
Because “the vaccines are obviously so potent that the immune system reacts strongly to them.
If you discuss this with a virologist, he will conclude that the vaccination is effective. "
The vaccination situation had previously been discussed within the clinic staff.
Many employees would have liked to be immunized with the Biontech / Pfizer active ingredient, as it is more effective than Astrazeneca's.
Since Biontech / Pfizer is to be used primarily in the older population (65+), the Braunschweig Clinic had to resort to Astrazeneca.
Experts from the Helmholtz Institute for Infection Research ultimately convinced Heller of Astrazeneca: “They said very clearly: get vaccinated anyway.
Better to be 70 percent effective than not having the vaccination.
Likewise, a less intensive course is to be expected after the vaccination in the event of the disease. ”Therefore, the doctor continues to appeal to be vaccinated against Covid-19:“ The vaccine works and its effect is even stronger after a few weeks.
Not being vaccinated is definitely worse. "
+
The vaccine from the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca is intended to help stop the spread of the coronavirus: On January 29, 2021, the vaccine received conditional marketing authorization in the EU, and on February 15, the WHO also spoke out in favor of it.
© Martin Wagner / imago-images
Astrazeneca vaccine: Expert advises third vaccination - from another manufacturer
Update from February 17, 11:20 a.m.:
The criticism of Astrazeneca's vaccine does not stop, in many cases this has already caused missed vaccine appointments (see update from February 17).
After a noticeably large number of employees at two clinics had shown a surprising number of symptoms after being vaccinated with the vaccine, the clinics even temporarily suspended the vaccine for the Astrazeneca vaccine.
In an interview with Augsburger Allgemeine, immunologist Professor Carsten Watzl explains: “The Astrazeneca product is a very good vaccine, even if the others are a bit better.” While the vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna have an effect of around 94 percent achieve, the effect of the Astrazeneca vaccine should be around 70 percent.
But as Watzl further explains in the interview, a vaccination with the active ingredient from Astrazeneca also offers greater security than not receiving a vaccination at all.
“One difference between the vaccines is that with mRNA vaccines these side effects occur in more cases and more strongly after the second vaccination instead of the first.
At Astrazeneca it is exactly the opposite, ”the immunologist continues.
However, it is also possible to boost the immunity that was triggered by the active ingredient in Astrazeneca later with another vaccine.
"It would therefore not be a problem to catch up with a third vaccination with an mRNA vaccine."
In his new podcast, virologist Christian Drosten, on the other hand, is very much in favor of the Astrazeneca vaccine.
Astrazeneca vaccine under fire: Virologist weakens worries about lack of effect
Update from February 17, 4:20 p.m.:
The criticism of the Astrazeneca vaccine has been increasing for days.
After a noticeable number of employees in a clinic reported sick after being vaccinated with the active ingredient, two clinics reacted (see original report).
But as virologist Prof. Plachter from the University of Mainz
explains
in an interview with
Bild
, you can be sure that the vaccine will work as soon as a body reacts to the administration.
"In principle, the vaccination reaction only means that the immune system is activated and that is a good sign," explains the expert.
Accordingly, it is "complaining at a high level" and "not bad at all" if the vaccinated person is bad for a few days.
Corona in Germany: willingness to vaccinate is apparently already decreasing - first appointments canceled
Update from February 17, 3:20 p.m.:
More and more people in Germany and around the world are vaccinating against the coronavirus, but above all the active ingredient from Astrazeneca is now making headlines again.
After a conspicuously large number of employees reported sick after being vaccinated with the vaccine, two clinics in Germany stopped the inoculation of the active ingredient (see original notification below).
After Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn had confirmed at a press conference in the morning that the incident was now being investigated by the Paul Ehrlich Institute, concerns are now increasing about the administration of the Astrazeneca vaccine.
As reported by n-tv, among others, some persons eligible for vaccination are said to have already let their appointment expire before worrying about the Astrazeneca vaccine.
"Yes, appointments were canceled with us, people didn't come," a spokeswoman for the Paderborn district told the TV broadcaster.
According to the NRW Ministry of Health, there is still no nationwide overview of the number of canceled appointments.
As n-tv further reports, after the accumulated sickness reports in clinics, only 8806 doses of the 72,000 Astrazeneca vaccine doses delivered to Lower Saxony are said to have been vaccinated up to and including Tuesday.
The Ministry of Health in Hanover confirmed this to the TV broadcaster.
Too many employees ill with side effects: German clinics stop Astrazeneca vaccination
Original notification from February 17, 2020:
Braunschweig - After the first regions in Sweden had already suspended a vaccination with the Astrazeneca vaccine, the first clinics in Lower Saxony have now also stopped vaccinations with the vaccine.
After complaints from a number of clinic employees about side effects, the administration of the active ingredient was stopped at two locations, as reported by owl24.de *.
Corona in Germany: Too many employees report sick after the Astrazeneca vaccination
The Duchess Elisabeth Hospital in Braunschweig announced on Tuesday that it would postpone planned vaccinations with this preparation.
At the Emden Clinic, vaccinations with the Astrazeneca vaccine also stopped.
On Tuesday evening, however, the district of Leer gave the green light for the administration of the active ingredient.
The reason for this: after 88 employees of the Braunschweig Clinic had been vaccinated by Astrazeneca, 37 of them reported temporarily sick because of "vaccination reactions".
The vaccination took place on Thursday.
For this reason, the clinic stopped any further vaccination with the Astrazeneca active ingredient in order not to endanger operations.
Employees at the Emden Clinic also reported sick after vaccinations.
As a result, the district of Leer also initially announced that it would no longer inject the agent.
"Because our vaccination doses probably come from the same batch as in Emden," it said.
Corona in Germany: side effects can occur - but batch problem cause complications?
According to the Robert Koch Institute *, side effects and reactions can occur both with the mRNA vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna and with the vector-based Astrazeneca preparation.
The head of the crisis team in Lower Saxony, Heiger Scholz, was surprised on Tuesday at the increased occurrence of
side effects.
A batch problem cannot be ruled out.
So far, the side effects have not been severe and nobody has had to go to a clinic with complications, said Scholz.
Ultimately, the expected side effects are a positive sign - you can see that the vaccine is working.
South Africa had already reported problems with the Astrazeneca vaccine.
According to a media report, the country plans to return a million doses of the vaccine.
A study has shown that the vaccine has only limited effects against the virus mutation discovered in South Africa.
Corona in Germany: Paul Ehrlich Institute informed - the incident is now being investigated
The Paul Ehrlich Institute responsible for the safety of vaccines has been informed.
An assessment of the specific cases is currently not possible, said a spokeswoman for the institute of the "Braunschweiger Zeitung".
It is currently being investigated whether the reactions went beyond what was observed in the clinical trials.
The manufacturer sees no cause for concern.
"Currently the reported reactions are as we would expect them based on the findings from our clinical study program," Astrazeneca announced on Monday on request.
Meanwhile, the number of new infections continues to fall, but over 200 employees at an ice cream factory in Osnabrück have now become infected with the corona virus *.
* Merkur.de and owl24.de are part of the Ippen-Digital editorial network.
List of rubric lists: © Martin Wagner / imago