New corona vaccine against Omikron is coming - who needs it and what it does

Created: 08/31/2022, 12:45 p.m

By: Patrick Freiwah

Syringe with corona vaccine: From autumn 2022, German citizens can take advantage of the third booster.

© IMAGO/McPHOTO/M.

Stolt

From September, new corona vaccines against the Omicron variants will come to Germany.

We explain what they are all about and for whom they seem necessary.

Berlin/Munich – While Germany is plagued by vaccination fatigue (not even every tenth person has been vaccinated four times), adapted corona vaccines will soon be on the market, millions of doses of which will be administered in Germany.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach recently announced that the companies Biontech/Pfizer have developed a preparation adapted to Omikron, which will be available nationwide from September 5, 2022 in pharmaceutical wholesales.

New corona vaccine against Omikron: Germany receives millions of preparations

The SPD government politician, who is reaping enormous headwind with his course of constant scaremongering, announced five million vaccine doses per week for the coming month, which will be ordered as part of the agreement between the EU and pharmaceutical companies.

However, the new corona vaccine, which is provided by Moderna in addition to Biontech/Pfizer (2.38 million additional doses), is still pending the “green light” from two important institutions.

Approval from the European Medicines Agency EMA in Amsterdam must first be granted, and the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) is still pending.

In view of the expected EU-wide approval of the first Covid-19 boosters adapted to the corona variant Omikron, the immunologist Carsten Watzl sees Stiko as having an obligation.

The General Secretary of the German Society for Immunology was quoted by the German Press Agency (dpa) as saying that the committee should comment as quickly as possible on the question of which groups the injection preparations can be used for.

Most recently, the 59-year-old had repeatedly given a gloomy corona forecast for the upcoming autumn.

The adapted vaccine preparations are "bivalent mRNA vaccines": They are intended to offer protection against both the original coronavirus and the omicron subline BA.1.

Omicron booster: who should have the new corona vaccine administered?

People in Germany will soon be able to arm themselves against Sars-COV-2 with the fifth corona vaccination.

However, Lauterbach himself is the best example of the fact that this does not protect against infection with the virus: Despite quadruple vaccination and taking the drug Paxlovid, the social democrat himself became infected with corona and also reported serious symptoms.

Which groups of people are advised to arm themselves with the active ingredients adapted to Omikron?

Expert Carsten Watzl considers a Stiko recommendation for a second booster vaccination with the new vaccines only for certain people to be likely.

This is about the recently revised Stiko assessment with regard to a fourth vaccination, which would be adjusted again after approval by the EMA:

• people over 60 years of age

• Residents and those cared for in care facilities

• People from the age of five with immunodeficiency

• People who work in medical and nursing facilities (especially in direct contact with those in need of care)

For example, the second booster is important for people who are very overweight and have a previous illness, as they are at higher risk of a severe course.

"I would be very surprised if Stiko said that all adults should be vaccinated again," explains Watzl.

Corona vaccination: Does it make sense to be immunized for the fifth time?

And what about the third booster vaccination - i.e. the fifth in total?

Anyone from this risk group who has already had the approved vaccines boosted a second time can protect themselves against the corona virus again with the new vaccines that will be available from September.

However, there must be a time interval of three months in between, because after this time the protection provided by a vaccine is considerably weakened, according to a study by the pharmaceutical giants Biontech/Pfizer.

Watzl explains to

that a fifth vaccination is not an immunological problem if you keep the recommended distance.

However, this is then twice as long: Anyone who has had a fourth vaccination or has had Corona in the past few months should allow at least six months to elapse from that point until the next vaccination.

After that, however, nothing speaks against it: "There is no over-vaccination or a negative effect that after a new vaccination you would be less protected than before if you keep the distances," the immune researcher supports his thesis.

Corona in Germany: A chronology of the pandemic

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Omicron Booster in September: Further development comes only a few weeks later

What makes the booster decision much more difficult for those affected in September 2022 and is already suitable as an exciting topic: In addition to the vaccine aimed at the omicron variant BA.1, a further development is already in the approval loop, which only a few weeks later in trade could come:

Biontech recently announced that it had now also finalized an application for a booster dose of the corona vaccine adapted to the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which applies to people aged 12 and over.

An EMA approval for this active ingredient is also in the pipeline at the end of September.

The same applies to Moderna, which for its part also has a new preparation in the works against the more current BA.4/5 variant.

So it seems that it might make sense for those affected to forego the injection of the earlier vaccine and instead wait for the further optimized vaccine, which will reach doctors and pharmacies just a few weeks later.

, epidemiologist Timo Ulrichs explained

that study data would clearly prove the better effectiveness of the new vaccines against the BA.5 variant: “I hope that the vaccination will result in a better immune response against all omicron subvariants than we have had so far have seen after the vaccination of the previous four vaccines, ”explains the scientist to the portal.