Leftover Astrazeneca vaccine should be used unbureaucratically. All priority groups could be vaccinated. The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach suggests.
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach has called for the Astrazeneca vaccine to be released immediately for all those under 65 years of age from the first three groups to be vaccinated. “There is no vaccine because not enough people from the first priority group register or do not show up for the appointment. This is an absurd and unbearable situation,” Lauterbach told “Bild am Sonntag”. “With the Astrazeneca vaccine, we should now unbureaucratically open the vaccination centers to everyone under 65 from the first three priority groups. Then we could finally use the vaccination centers to full capacity.”
Lauterbach wrote on Twitter: “I would even approve Astra vaccine for all under 65-year-olds in the three priority groups. It lies around, absurd. In schools, however, children and parents must also be protected.”
The vaccination sequence in Germany has three major groups: group one with “highest priority”, group two: “high priority”, and group three: “increased priority”. The Astrazeneca vaccine is currently only given to people between the ages of 18 and 64 in Germany – there is a lack of data on the effect in older people. That is why the workers in nursing homes or intensive care units in this age group are now given this vaccine as a priority. From the point of view of scientists, the reservations about the preparation are unfounded.
Good data from Biontech vaccine
Lauterbach expresses the hope that the vaccine from Pfizer and Biontech can achieve herd immunity. In an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” he refers to the results of a study by the Israeli Ministry of Health and Pfizer. “These evaluations are of great importance. They are the first clear indication that you are not infected and not contagious after vaccination,” he explains. In this way, vaccination would actually enable herd immunity – “and enable a return to normal life”.
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