Vaccination breakdown: Affected person describes Moderna scandal - "Am I boosted now?"

Created: 01/14/2022 11:16 am

By: Jakob Koch

780,000 doses of vaccine were administered in Germany on Wednesday.

(symbol photo) © Sebastian Kahnert/dpa

Berthold Bronisz will not soon forget this day: he was given an expired corona vaccine.

Now he raises serious allegations against the city of Cologne.

Cologne – Bronisz is one of over 2000 cases in the city of Cologne.

According to earlier information from the city, two service providers had vaccinated with a vaccine against the corona virus* at the end of the year, which was considered to have expired.

The breakdown was noticed during a routine check of the mobile vaccination offers, which are taken over by various service providers in Cologne on behalf of the city. 

Corona vaccination: Affected person describes Moderna scandal in Cologne

According to the information, the vaccine was the preparation of the manufacturer Moderna*.

Employees of the vaccination service providers had escaped the fact that, according to the handover protocol, it would expire on December 26 because it had already been thawed.

The batch's expiry date printed on the ampoules was June 2022 - but this only applied to the frozen state.

In December, the vaccines were no longer fully administered - as before - due to falling demand, the city had announced in a statement.

Therefore, they sometimes had to be stored.

Together with the professional fire brigade, the service providers should now check all processes again in a “quality-assuring” manner.

Actually, there is "an explicit control note".

The case brings back memories of a corona breakdown in children's vaccinations * in the Hanover region.

There, several boys and girls had received too high a dose of the corona vaccine.

They were injected with the higher concentration for adults.

Corona breakdown with Moderna: Affected person describes fears

For the 59-year-old Berthold Bronisz, the concerns are now great.

“Is there any health disadvantages for me?

And am I boosted now, do I have vaccination protection or not?” he told the

.

The city has not yet contacted him.

A scandal for him: "Do I really have to find out from the media first?"

Moderna: How boosters against Corona variant Omikron helps

A booster dose with the vaccine from Moderna significantly increases the body's immune defenses against the new corona variant Omikron*, according to the manufacturer. Compared to a double vaccination, the neutralizing antibody level increased by about 37 times after a booster with the approved dosage, the US company said. The researchers had analyzed the antibody level 29 days after the booster vaccination in the laboratory. There is no data yet on how long the effects last after boosting with the Moderna vaccine mRNA-1273. The company is already working on the development of an Omicron-specific booster candidate.

The city of Cologne had already publicly stated that there was no health risk.

They now want to offer those affected possible follow-up vaccinations and faster booster vaccinations*.

In a statement, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) cannot rule out the possibility that certain losses in effectiveness could occur with vaccines that were stored in deviation from the prescribed storage conditions, according to the city of Cologne.

However, the institute does not assume a complete loss of the active ingredient.

The city now wants to write to those affected like Berthold Bronisz and make them a short-term vaccination offer in the recommended time windows.