The booster vaccinations should be significantly accelerated.
But a plan by the Ministry of Health has triggered criticism: Biontech deliveries are to be limited so that more Moderna is inoculated.
Berlin - The Federal Ministry of Health is facing severe criticism from the federal states because of planned order restrictions for the corona vaccine from Biontech in favor of the preparation from Moderna.
Schleswig-Holstein's health minister Heiner Garg (FDP) accused the managing health minister Jens Spahn (CDU) on Saturday of using Biontech to ration the vaccine with the highest public acceptance. Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU) also protested against the announced limit. That was unacceptable, he told the German Press Agency in Munich.
In a letter to the federal states, the Federal Ministry of Health announced restrictions on order quantities for the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer so that the Moderna preparation can be used more frequently for booster vaccinations.
Otherwise, stored Moderna cans threatened to expire from the middle of the first quarter of 2022, which must be avoided.
For the time being, practices should be able to order a maximum of 30 doses of Biontech per week, vaccination centers and mobile vaccination teams 1020 doses.
There should be no upper limits for orders from Moderna.
"Full braking on a straight line"
The federal and state governments have jointly determined that a large, joint effort is now required to vaccinate, said Holetschek. The “booster” vaccinations are particularly important. If one now hears that the Biontech vaccine should be restricted, it is "absolutely unacceptable and destroys the necessary trust that the citizens must have in us in this highly dramatic situation". Holetschek, who is also chairman of the state health ministers' conference, wants to put the topic on the agenda of the conference's deliberations planned for Monday.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Health Minister Stefanie Drese (SPD) spoke on Saturday of an "emergency stop on a straight line". This is a gamble of trust that the Biontech vaccine has the highest level of acceptance among people. The Green health expert Janosch Dahmen warned on Twitter of a "handbrake when vaccinating". FDP parliamentary group vice-chairman Michael Theurer said: "That must be a bad joke." It takes massive amounts of vaccinations. Defining maximum quantities now is absolutely counterproductive and sends a completely wrong signal.
Medical representatives also sharply criticized.
They anticipate a significantly increased need for advice in the practices because patients have already made appointments for a Biontech vaccination, which it may not be possible to keep.
The Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians demanded, according to a report by "Bild am Sonntag", that the "serious wrong decision" had to be revised.
The practices would still have to be able to order all vaccines without restrictions.
30 cans of Biontech per practice per week were not at all enough to cope with the rush, said the head of the Association of General Practitioners in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Stefan Zutz, the NDR.
"It would be a disaster for the vaccination campaign."
Ministry: Vaccines are equally suitable
The Federal Ministry of Health said on Saturday that the preparations from Biontech and Moderna are both "safe, effective and equally suitable for booster vaccinations". By the end of the year, 50 million doses of both corona vaccines would be available for first, second and especially booster vaccinations - around 24 million doses of Biontech and around 26 million doses of Moderna. "There is enough vaccine for everyone."
The health policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Sabine Dittmar, said that Moderna's vaccine is very powerful and is based on the same mRNA technology.
"Studies even point to a slightly higher and longer-lasting protective effect of the Moderna vaccine." Nevertheless, Spahn's short-term announcement to reduce deliveries from Biontech was a setback in the booster campaign.
"In a very practical way, it throws the scheduling of many practices upside down."
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Bavarian Pharmacists Association: Enough vaccine there
According to their association, the Bavarian pharmacies have no problems with the vaccine supply.
"There is enough vaccine available," said association spokesman Thomas Metz on Friday.
The family doctors give their orders to the pharmacies, which they then pass on to their pharmaceutical wholesalers every Tuesday and then get the vaccine on the following Monday.
Bavarian Pharmacists Association: Enough vaccine there
Criticism of Spahn's demand for vaccination centers from Lower Saxony
In Lower Saxony and Bremen no vaccination centers have been in operation for a few weeks.
According to Jens Spahn, this should change again - but there are different opinions on this.
Criticism of Spahn's demand for vaccination centers from Lower Saxony
According to the Ministry of Health, 5.6 million people have received a booster vaccination so far.
This week alone, 1.7 million citizens have been “boosted” so far, Spahn tweeted on Saturday.
56.5 million people in Germany are fully vaccinated, or 67.9 percent of the total population.
The Robert Koch Institute assumes that among adults, probably more people are vaccinated than the data suggests: 100% registration of the vaccinations cannot be achieved by the reporting system, according to the vaccination overview of the RKI.
dpa
