The vaccination rate decreases, the number of infections increases. The federal and state governments now want to expand the range of vaccinations for children and adolescents – despite the lack of a recommendation from Stiko. Twitter railed against politics and called for tough penalties.
Children and adolescents from 12 to 17 years of age will soon be able to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in vaccination centers.
Image: AdobeStock / tilialucida
–
After the summer holidays, children and adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age are now supposed to be in the vaccination centers against the Coronavirus be vaccinated – with medical advice and the consent of the guardian. This was decided by the federal and state health ministers on Monday, thereby ignoring the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko). “Anyone who wants can be vaccinated in the summer. We have enough vaccine for all age groups,” said Federal Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).
Vaccination of children and adolescents in vaccination centers possible: Politics ignores Stiko recommendation
In Germany, 900,000 children between the ages of 12 and 17 have already been vaccinated. However, the planned expansion of the vaccination of children sparked a heated debate. The hashtag #STIKO was trending on Twitter within a very short time. “I am absolutely PRO vaccination. But the fact that a committee of (mostly) non-doctors thinks they know better than the #STIKO is a chutzpah beyond compare. #FollowTheScience was yesterday,” it says in one Tweet. “I trust the #STIKO more than this non-specialist #Health Ministers Conference,” adds another Twitter users.
Jail for Spahn, psychiatry for Lauterbach! Twitter users demand harsh punishment for politicians after #child vaccination
Others become clearer in their criticism. “Jens Spahn belongs in a prison cell and Karl Lauterbach in a closed psychiatric ward,” it says in one Tweet. “Anyone who has their child vaccinated against Covid should have their custody withdrawn.” “Because many politicians are just pretending that #STIKO is so cautious about #children’s vaccinations: The British #JCVI also takes exactly the same position: the minimal benefits of a vaccination currently (!) Do not outweigh the potential risks,” writes journalist Markus Grill in a tweet.
Because a lot of politicians are pretending to be #STIKO alone so reluctant with #Child vaccinations: Also the British one #JCVI takes exactly the same position: The minimal advantages of a vaccination currently (!) do not outweigh the potential risks: https://t.co/GeKRJSNUy4
– Markus Grill (@m_grill) August 2, 2021
Stiko does not refuse to vaccinate children – parents can decide
What many forget in the debate: “The #STIKO has not spoken out against a vaccination, it just does not consider it necessary. The decision of the health ministers will neither increase the rate of vaccination nor make anything possible that was not previously possible”, it says in one Tweet. “The academization of society is progressing: Last year we were happy to see thousands of self-appointed virologists and epidemiologists, today there are already thousands of standing vaccination commissions,” writes Twitter users. “It may well be that children between 12 and 18 hardly play a role in the pandemic, but it does matter whether you want them to be #LongCovid for a lifetime,” adds one further. “The good thing is: Even without the general vaccination recommendation from #STIKO, parents can have their children vaccinated against COVID-19. So get on the juice,” it says in one Tweet.
I’ve had my children vaccinated against a lot of things that they #Stiko did not recommend 100%. 1990 against whooping cough, for example.
In retrospect, the recommendation was always made, and the children had remained healthy in the meantime.— ???? ???? Mo♫ika ♬aria ???? (@3mausimhaus) August 2, 2021
Insufficient data! Stiko explains decision to vaccinate children
While the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved both the Covid-19 vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer and that from Moderna for children and adolescents from the age of 12, the independent Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) in Germany has so far only recommended vaccinations for children if they are at higher risk for more severe corona courses, for example due to diseases such as diabetes. According to Stiko, the data situation has not yet been sufficient to rule out possible consequential damage. In other countries like Israel, on the other hand, vaccination campaigns for children and adolescents are already running. SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach recently held an “outsider position” for the Stiko on Deutschlandfunk.
Stiko boss Thomas Mertens does not believe that vaccinating children and adolescents contributes to herd immunity. Rather, he appealed to 18 to 59 year olds to get vaccinated. They are underrepresented among the vaccinated. The German Association of General Practitioners criticized the fact that the policy was left out of the Stiko in their decision. “This discussion, disregarding the competence of the Standing Vaccination Commission, can lead to uncertainty rather than helping the vaccination campaign,” said Federal Chairman Ulrich Weigeldt. “It is a mystery to me why it is impossible to wait for a recommendation from Stiko, which wants to express itself promptly on the basis of well-founded studies. The whole thing sounds a little like election campaign noise.”
Also read: Infected despite vaccination? How safe are we after the spades?
follow News.de already at Facebook and YouTube? Here you will find the latest news, the latest videos, great competitions and a direct line to the editors.
bua / sig / news.de / dpa
– .
