Kekulé against fourth vaccination for everyone - four million corona vaccine doses end up in the garbage
Created: 07/18/2022, 17:41
By: Kathrin Reikowski
The EU is now recommending a fourth corona vaccination for people over 60.
© Marijan Murat/dpa
According to media reports, four million vaccine doses end up in the garbage in Germany.
International buyers are no longer found either.
Munich – In the summer of 2021, the news of an upcoming vaccination date was a great reason to celebrate: Germany was queuing in vaccination centers waiting for the first or second injection against the corona virus.
Over the weekend it became known that the situation had changed a year later: more than four million vaccine doses ended up in the garbage.
The
editorial network Germany
claims to have learned this after a parliamentary question from Bundestag member Stephan Pilsinger (CSU).
The four million doses came exclusively from the production of Moderna.
Around 3.9 million doses expired between December 2021 and the end of June 2022.
Not a single one of the 134.3 million vaccine doses ordered in the same period was donated because the international vaccine alliance Gavi no longer had a need.
183.4 million doses of vaccine against Corona administered in Germany
According to the RKI's vaccination dashboard, 183.4 million vaccine doses were administered by July 18, 76.2 percent of the population had received at least one basic immunization.
On the other hand, people over a certain age receive separate recommendations for a second booster vaccination.
It is clear that basic immunization with vaccines directed against the original Wuhan type of the pandemic virus can hardly prevent infections with omicron (BA.1) or its current subvariants (BA.4 and BA.5).
The third vaccination (first booster), on the other hand, significantly improves protection against omicron variants.
Alexander Kekulé, virologist known since the corona pandemic in Focus.de
Virologist Alexander Kekulé opposes Lauterbach's recommendation for the fourth vaccination dose from the age of 60
"Vaccinating all age groups four times - the vaccines from BioNTech are approved from the age of five - is of course just as nonsense as the promise that you would no longer have a risk of contracting Covid," says virologist Alexander Kekulé in a guest article for
focus. en.
"Whether a fourth vaccination makes sense in individual cases should also be decided on the basis of an individual risk assessment," says Kekulé.
While there is still a lot of data missing, the general evidence is that a fourth dose - and thus a second booster - can prevent 40 to 70 percent of deaths in people over 60.
Still, he says: "A healthy, triple-vaccinated 65-year-old can easily wait until September for the Omicron-adapted vaccines, even if it has been more than six months since his last injection."
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) triggered the discussion in
Spiegel
when he said: "If someone wants to enjoy the summer and not take any risks, I would recommend vaccination to younger people in consultation with the family doctor." Stiko boss Mertens also had expressed the opposite.
(cat)
