German Health Minister Jens Spahn called on Wednesday for booster vaccinations to be stepped up and for more frequent vaccination or testing checks as new COVID-19 infections rise.
Health officials also called on people who have not been vaccinated to do so, although Spahn acknowledged that many cannot be convinced. They said the pressure on hospital beds is increasing, particularly in regions where vaccination rates are relatively low.
Spahn said that while officials agreed in August to make the booster shots available to those over 60, and nursing home residents and staff, only a little more than 2 million have been administered so far.
“That is too little, the rate of injections is not enough,” he added.
There is some tension between the minister and medical organizations on the issue. Germany’s independent standing committee on vaccination, whose recommendations are followed by many doctors, currently recommends boosters for people over 70 and some other groups, but the Health Ministry says that everyone who wants one is entitled to one.
“If all countries waited for the data before doing something, we wouldn’t have any data,” Spahn said, noting that European authorities approved the boosters and that vaccines for adolescents were also started long before a committee recommendation. He said those most at risk should take priority, but when it comes to others, “the vaccine is there, the authorization is there and the findings from other countries are there.”
Official figures show that two-thirds of Germany’s 83 million people have completed their first round of vaccination. The director of the country’s disease control center, Lothar Wieler, said 16.2 million people over the age of 12 remain unvaccinated, including 3.2 million over the age of 60.
Germany does not oblige any professional group to be vaccinated, unlike other European countries.
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