NRW family doctor takes Lauterbach to court – and makes clear demands

Created: 08/10/2022, 09:11

By: Nina Büchs

Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is pushing for a change in the Stiko recommendation for the fourth vaccination (archive image).

© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

With regard to the fourth vaccination, Karl Lauterbach is pushing for a Stiko recommendation for younger people.

A doctor from Neuss has a clear stance on this. 

Cologne – Before the feared autumn wave of corona, many people are currently wondering when a fourth vaccination would make sense for them.

So far, the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has only issued a recommendation for people over the age of 70 and for risk groups.

Younger people are left at a loss – Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach wants to change that.

He demands a “clear recommendation for all age groups” from Stiko as to whether and in which cases a fourth vaccination (second booster) makes sense.

"We must also have an answer for the 40-year-old," said the Minister of Health.

The Neuss family doctor Dr.

Guido Pukies, a specialist in internal medicine from Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia, has a clear opinion on this.

In an interview with

, he makes several demands on the Minister of Health, reports 24RHEIN.

Corona: Lauterbach from “switch talk show mode to work mode”

Many patients would like to have a fourth vaccination, says family doctor Dr.

Guido Pukies at the request of the

presenter.

However, there is also uncertainty about a fourth vaccination, which needs to be clarified with the patients individually in the practice.

However, he finds Lauterbach's insistence on a change in the Stiko recommendation "very unfortunate", according to the doctor.

"I would like, like many of my colleagues, that the minister would switch from this talk show mode to work mode," says Pukies.

His main concern: Before the minister makes such demands on the Stiko, he should "do his homework in the ministry" and see how much vaccine is available in the fall, in what quantity, when and from which company, the Neuss doctor demands, among other things .

Corona: Who gets a booster vaccination?

"That is completely open and that also makes it very difficult to advise patients about a booster with a possibly adapted vaccine," says Pukies.

According to the doctor, this information is an important principle for making decisions and advising his patients.

Lauterbach recently stated that four adapted vaccines are not expected until September 9, 2022 at the earliest.

The first vaccines that are adapted to the Omikron variants BA.4 and BA.5 are currently being developed.

The pharmaceutical company Biontech announced that a corresponding clinical study would start this month.

If the responsible authorities approve this, the first cans could be delivered from October, said CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin in Mainz on Monday, August 8th.

The company had previously developed a vaccine adapted to the BA.1 variant.

In addition, an adapted vaccine from the US manufacturer Moderna is being tested by the EMA, which, like the vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, is based on mRNA technology.

However, no vaccine has yet been approved in the EU that is also adapted to variants of the corona virus.

Corona virus: General practitioner from Neuss criticizes politics – “Medical assistants must get a bonus”

Most recently, the doctor from Neuss expressed another demand that is very important to him and his colleagues.

"Medical assistants should finally get a bonus from the government."

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the employees have been “under constant fire”, at the reception they have already answered and solved many questions and thus relieved a lot of work.

His opinion: "You are either forgotten or ignored by the ministry and I find that very unbearable," says the doctor in the

.