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Christian Drosten: "This autumn, however, it is important to first close the vaccination gaps among those over 60 years of age."
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
For the majority of those vaccinated, according to the virologist Christian Drosten, no booster vaccination against Sars-CoV-2 will be necessary in autumn.
"The protective effect of the corona vaccines is much better than, for example, the influenza vaccines," said Drosten.
The virologist does not expect a new virus variant that is resistant to the available vaccines to appear anytime soon.
For old people and certain high-risk patients, Drosten believes that a booster vaccination this autumn makes sense.
"After six months, the antibody level acquired through the vaccination goes down significantly, especially in very old people." In special situations such as retirement homes, a refreshment is therefore conceivable.
In terms of numbers, this would hardly conflict with the international shortage of vaccines.
For the rest of the population, an age level may be defined at some point from which a booster vaccination would make sense.
"This autumn, however, it is important to first close the vaccination gaps among those over 60 years of age."
US government plans to offer all booster vaccinations from September
The US government announced on Wednesday that it intends to provide the entire American population with booster vaccinations against the corona virus from September. Citizens should get a third dose around eight months after completing their first two vaccinations with the preparations from Moderna or Pfizer / Biontech, high-ranking health officials announced. The background to this is the spread of the particularly contagious Delta variant as well as data evaluations, according to which the protection provided by the vaccines diminishes over time.
The German company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer had submitted the first data for the approval of a booster vaccination against Covid-19 with the US FDA on Monday.
In the coming weeks, the data from a phase 1 study should also be submitted to the European Medicines Agency Ema and other authorities.
Participants received a booster vaccination eight to nine months after the second dose, it said.
Compared to a double vaccination, people with a booster vaccination could have detected "significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers".
In the USA, other countries and occasionally in Germany, booster vaccinations are already being given for certain groups.
"A shame for all of humanity"
The World Health Organization (WHO) criticizes plans for booster vaccinations in healthy people.
Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist, said in Geneva on Wednesday that it was not even clear whether they were necessary.
While there are plenty of vaccines available in rich countries, millions of people in dozens of countries around the world are still waiting for the chance to be vaccinated.
WHO Emergency Aid Coordinator Mike Ryan said that offering people a booster vaccination is like giving people with life jackets another vest, while many millions of people are left without any protection.
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Corona vaccines in doctor's offices: Millions of vaccine doses threaten to expireBy Cornelia Schmergal and Christoph Schult
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that only ten countries had given 75 percent of the total vaccine on them.
Poor countries were only able to vaccinate just under two percent of their population, according to Tedros.
"I have called for a moratorium on boosters to make it easier to supply those countries that have not even been able to vaccinate their health workers and vulnerable populations and are now experiencing corona outbreaks."
"The injustice in vaccination is a shame for all of humanity, and if we do not act together, we will extend the acute phase of this pandemic by years, although it could be over in a few months," said the WHO chief
wbr / dpa