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Chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission Thomas Mertens
Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / REUTERS
The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Thomas Mertens, admitted in the ARD politics magazine »Panorama« that certain decisions of the commission »from today's perspective« were made too late.
According to Mertens, it would “probably have been cheaper to start boosting earlier”.
According to the ARD report, the renewed chaos during vaccination would have been avoidable if the booster had started faster.
Since July it has been clear that a third vaccination is necessary.
At that time, Biontech published the latest data from Israel that spoke in favor of it.
However, it took Stiko until the beginning of October to make a recommendation - and then only for a small group, especially for people over 70 years of age.
The general recommendation for everyone over the age of 18 followed on November 18.
more on the subject
Pandemic failure: Why does Stiko take so long to make decisions? By Imre Balzer, Veronika Hackenbroch and Yasemin Yüksel
Corona booster vaccinations: We boost far too slowly - and too few by Holger Dambeck and Marcel Pauly
Pandemic: Why Israelis Are So Much Better at Fighting Corona An interjection from Richard C. Schneider, Tel Aviv
Mertens explained in Panorama why it took so long for Stiko to make a decision: “We first define which data we need in order to be able to come to a recommendation.
And when that is determined, this data has to be collected and worked out.
And when this data is available, Stiko begins to discuss this data «.
A comparison with Israel is not possible on many points and the evidence in another country is not easily transferable, said Mertens.
“Israel is a very small country, with a population of nine million.
The health system is extremely well organized, centrally organized, and data collection and availability is also very, very good. "
The decision to initially only recommend the booster vaccination for people over the age of 70 and particularly vulnerable groups was also explained by Mertens by saying that vaccination goals must be achievable.
“Since it was not foreseeable that we would be able to vaccinate our population as quickly as in Israel, we definitely had to protect those people first, who are also at high risk of serious illness.
And that was the main reason for this recommendation, ”he said.
But Mertens also blamed politics: "For the special situation at the moment, there would have to be more staff," including specialists who could use mathematical models.
"Even bigger, better equipment would certainly be helpful."
kha / mar
