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Syringe with corona vaccine: Around 65 million people in Germany have been vaccinated against Covid-19 at least once
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
No effect without side effects is a frequently quoted rule of thumb in medicine.
This also applies to the vaccines against Covid-19 approved in Germany.
If damage to health occurs after the vaccination, those affected are entitled to compensation, as stated in the Infection Protection Act.
According to a report by "Bild am Sonntag", 253 applications for compensation due to serious undesirable side effects of the corona vaccination have been approved so far.
What are these cases and what are those affected entitled to?
The overview.
How are side effects recorded in Germany?
Anyone who has been vaccinated can contact the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) for possible side effects, which has also developed the SafeVac 2.0 app for recording.
Doctors are also obliged to report any side effects.
According to the most recently published safety report, the PEI registered 333,492 suspected cases of side effects after a Covid 19 vaccination.
What side effects are known?
Most known side effects, such as pain at the injection site, subside quickly.
According to the PEI, the most important, very rare serious side effects with the mRNA vaccines from Biontech and Moderna are inflammation of the heart muscle and pericardium.
Young men and male adolescents are particularly affected.
Studies have shown that cases were more common with the Moderna vaccine, which is why Biontech's vaccine is recommended for younger men.
A side effect is considered very rare if it occurs at most once in 10,000 vaccinations.
There have also been isolated cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome with the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson corona vaccines.
This is a nerve disorder that often begins with tingling and numbness and can lead to muscle weakness and paralysis.
A list of other possible side effects of the PEI can be found here.
In addition, a number of diffuse symptoms such as tiredness or headaches are discussed, which can occur in connection with the vaccination but cannot be clearly attributed to the vaccination.
Those affected call it "post-vac syndrome", based on the post-Covid syndrome after an infection.
The symptoms described are strikingly similar: cognitive and neurological disorders, cardiovascular problems, extreme fatigue, headaches.
The PEI has checked these symptoms, but still sees no risk signal according to the safety report.
Two university hospitals in Germany are currently taking suspected cases who have developed inexplicable symptoms after their corona vaccination, the Charité in Berlin and the university hospital in Marburg.
When is there compensation?
Whether someone is entitled to compensation is not decided by the PEI, but by the
pension office of the respective federal state
.
As a rule, payment is only made for complications that "represent a long-term health or economic consequence," according to the Federal Center for Health Education.
The federal states can determine the local responsibility themselves.
In Berlin, for example, the State Office for Health and Social Affairs is responsible, in Bavaria the Bavarian Center for Family and Social Affairs.
It is then checked whether the health damage was caused by the vaccination.
Depending on the extent of the damage to health, those affected are entitled to pension payments, medical treatment or care for the surviving dependents.
What damage was recognized?
According to “Bild am Sonntag”, the recognized vaccine damage includes inflammation of the heart muscle, sinus vein thrombosis and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
This roughly corresponds to previous queries to the federal states.
Sinus vein thrombosis, which causes certain blood vessels in the brain to become blocked, has just been observed following vaccination with AstraZeneca's vaccine.
According to the “Welt am Sonntag”, deaths from the vaccination were also occasionally recognized.
How often are applications for vaccination damage made?
Measured by the number of doses administered, applications for recognition of vaccine damage are rare.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), around 192 million corona vaccinations were given in Germany by the beginning of the year.
Around 65 million people have been vaccinated at least once.
Most applications were approved in the most populous federal states of Bavaria with 61 and North Rhine-Westphalia with 38, in Bremen, on the other hand, no vaccination damage after a Covid 19 vaccination has been recognized so far.
Overall, only a fraction of the applications are approved.
According to the information, the federal states rejected 1,808 applications.
3,968 applications are currently being processed by the federal states, and more could follow.
What does this mean for vaccine safety?
The decision on compensation does not directly affect the safety assessment of the vaccines.
This remains the responsibility of the responsible health authorities.
In Europe, for example, the European Medicines Agency (Ema) continuously checks the safety of approved vaccines, even after they have been approved.
A crucial tool is the so-called observed-versus-expected analysis.
The reasoning behind this is: millions of people in Germany have already been vaccinated against Covid-19.
It is not surprising that such a large number of people develop diseases by accident.
The decisive factor, however, is: Is a certain disease becoming more common in those who have been vaccinated?
If experts determine an accumulation, the possible complication is considered a safety signal.
As a consequence, the recommendations can be adjusted.
So the Ema had recognized a connection between the AstraZeneca vaccination and thrombosis.
The vaccine was then only recommended for people over 60 years of age.
koe/kry/dpa
