Berlin / Brussels. Vaccinations against the corona virus have been in Germany for a week. Health Minister Jens Spahn had already suspected before the start: “It will jerk at one point or another.” The CDU politician should be right. Vaccination is too slow for many, other countries are making faster progress. The elderly, who are to be vaccinated first, wonder how they get the important spades. At the start of the election year, the opposition accuses the federal government of having failed to prepare. And the EU Commission is also being scolded a lot.
Vaccinations are taking too long
So far, 1.3 million doses of the vaccine from the Mainz company Biontech have been delivered to the federal states. This will initially take care of residents of old people’s and nursing homes, people over 80 years of age as well as nursing staff and hospital staff at particular risk. On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute announced that around 188,500 vaccinations had been reported to him. The real number is likely to be higher due to reporting delays. Many citizens and experts complain that there is not enough vaccine. But even if you – as some federal states do – set aside half of the doses for the necessary second vaccination, the entire amount has by no means been used up.
One week after the start of the corona vaccination – where is it jerky and why?
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Too little vaccine, too slow distribution: The Federal Government and the EU Commission have to listen to criticism. © dpa
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The Ministry of Health refers to the federal states that organize the vaccinations. In general, it could be due to the fact that vaccinations are primarily given in old people’s and nursing homes. The residents there are often not mobile, so that vaccination teams have to drive to the homes. This takes longer than mass vaccinations in a vaccination center. Short medical consultations are also planned before vaccination.
The next vaccine deliveries are imminent
The next batch of Biontech vaccine arrives on Friday January 8th. Three further delivery dates are planned for each Monday until the beginning of February. A further 2.68 million vaccine doses are to be distributed to the federal states by February 1st. Vaccine from another manufacturer could still be added in January: The federal government expects the EU approval of Moderna’s vaccine on January 6th. “We will then quickly coordinate the exact delivery schedules for this vaccine with the EU and the company,” announced the ministry. Minister Spahn promises on “RTL Aktuell” that all nursing home residents will be vaccinated in the course of January. “We can achieve this goal in January. And that is what we want to and will achieve with the federal states. “
How people over 80 who do not live in old people’s homes get their vaccination varies from state to state. In Baden-Württemberg, for example, you can already book appointments for the vaccination centers by telephone, but this is not yet possible in North Rhine-Westphalia. How the majority of citizens will be informed later – whether all over 70-year-olds will be contacted by the municipalities or insurance companies – is not yet clear.
Delays due to lack of approvals
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides rejects criticism. “The bottleneck is currently not the number of orders, but the global bottleneck in production capacities,” she explains to the German press agency. “This also applies to Biontech.” In November, up to 300 million doses of the Biontech vaccine were ordered, which are distributed across the 27 EU countries according to population size. There are also framework agreements with five other manufacturers. In total, the EU has purchase rights for almost two billion vaccine doses, more than enough for the 450 million people in the EU. The problem: So far, only Biontech / Pfizer has EU approval. So the diversity is of no use at first.
Since it was long unclear who would be ahead in the vaccine race, the commission wanted to spread the risk. Why, when and what quantities were ordered from certain companies is not transparent – the contracts are secret. Under the hand one can hear in Brussels: Biontech and Moderna were initially not the first choice for some EU countries, because of the new technology and because of the prices. These are also a secret, but a Belgian State Secretary recently gave a temporary insight on Twitter: A dose of vaccine from Moderna costs the equivalent of around 15 euros, from Biontech / Pfizer 12 euros, from Astra Zeneca only 1.78 euros. With the latter, for example, there is no need for sophisticated cooling technology.
The SPD politician Karl Lauterbach criticizes that Europe has only bought a small amount of the Moderna vaccine, namely 160 million doses. “It was clear very early on that the Moderna vaccine had a very strong effect and could be used in general practices,” Lauterbach told the Rheinische Post. Because of the small amount, the Moderna vaccine is unlikely to play a major role. In contrast, the EU Commission agreed with Astra Zeneca in August to purchase up to 400 million cans and was hoping for delivery before the end of the year. Then there were setbacks in tests. The so-called Oxford vaccine has now achieved emergency approval in Great Britain. In the EU, the product could possibly be the next one to hit the market a few weeks after Moderna.
AstraZeneca vaccine approved in India
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In the country with the second largest population and the second highest corona infection cases worldwide, vaccination against the pandemic can soon begin. © Reuters
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Biontech is working on the production of additional vaccination doses
Biontech boss Ugur Sahin told the German press agency that there was “advanced discussions” about additional deliveries. So more than the 300 million cans ordered. We are working with the EU on expanding production capacities. In “Spiegel” he pointed out difficulties: “But it is not as if specialized factories were standing around unused all over the world that could produce vaccine of the required quality overnight.” It would not be clear until the end of January whether and how much can be additionally produced.
“The situation will improve step by step,” promises Health Commissioner Kyriakides. In mathematical terms, the amount of the three drugs from Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zeneca ordered by the EU – a total of 860 million doses – is sufficient for all expected vaccinations in Europe: 60 to 70 percent of the population with two syringes each. As soon as all three have EU approval, the supplies should get going. Nevertheless, the vaccination campaign will take months because it will only be delivered in stages.
Europe goes together in the vaccination campaign
Health Minister Spahn emphasizes that Germany consciously chose the European route. A race of the 27 for the scarce vaccine would have meant a new fuel for the EU, and large Germany would certainly have been attacked for ousting small and less affluent countries. “Europe is networked and we will get out of this crisis together the fastest,” says Kyriakides. “Germany is also very interested in this.” In addition, there is the market power of the EU Commission. It gets good prices because of the large quantities. According to media reports, the US is said to have paid $ 19.50 each for the first 100 million doses of Biontech vaccine, the equivalent of around 16 euros. According to Belgian information, in the EU it was 12 euros.
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