Johnson & Johnson vaccinates: Court overturns incomplete J&J vaccination status

Successful lawsuit against incomplete vaccination status of Johnson & Johnson vaccinates. Applicant is considered to be fully immunized again after vaccination with J&J.

Berlin – For a long time, people who were vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson were considered fully immunized with just one vaccination of the vector vaccine Janssen from Johnson & Johnson. This fact changed in January when the vaccinated status was revoked and From now on, J&J vaccinated a third vaccination for the booster status* required.

According to media reports, a plaintiff has now been granted full vaccination status based on a judgment by the Berlin Administrative Court. This was reported, among others, by daily mirror, N-TV, RND and rbb24.de.

Johnson & Johnson vaccinated: Berlin court grants plaintiff full vaccination status

Accordingly, in an emergency decision, the Berlin court granted Johnsons & Johnson vaccinates their full vaccination status on the grounds that the exclusion of people who had only been vaccinated once from the full vaccination status by the Paul Ehrlich Institute was unlawful.

The criteria for vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson were set by the institute last January and adjusted in the protective measures exception ordinance, which also had far-reaching effects on the Vaccination status of Johnson & Johnson vaccinates in Lower Saxony* would have.

Berlin court justifies decision on vaccination status of Johnson & Johnson vaccinated persons – verdict formally only applies to the plaintiff

According to the authorization to issue ordinances in the Infection Protection Act, only the federal government itself can decide on the status of immunization, not a higher federal authority. According to the decision of the Berlin court, the transfer of this decision to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut exceeded the limits of the legal authorization. “Therefore, no decision is required here as to whether the requirement for an additional individual vaccination to obtain complete vaccination protection after just one vaccination with the vaccine Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen was factually missed or insufficiently justified,” said the judges.

The federal and state governments have already agreed that decisions on vaccination status should no longer be delegated to the Paul Ehrlich Institute.

In the wording of the court, the verdict of the 14th chamber on the urgent application was as follows: “After the summary examination, which is the only possible and necessary summary examination in the urgent proceedings, it can be assumed with the necessary high probability that the provision on which the exclusion of only simply with the Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen vaccinated persons based on the full vaccination status by the Paul Ehrlich Institute in consultation with the Robert Koch Institute (…) will prove to be unlawful. After all, according to the power to issue ordinances in the Infection Protection Act, the Federal Government itself has to decide on the immunization status (also as a result of protective vaccinations).

Johnson & Johnson vaccinated: Judgment by the Berlin court formally only applies to the plaintiff – but could have far-reaching consequences for 5.4 million vaccinated people

The verdict of Berlin court on the basic immunization of Johnson & Johnson vaccinated* Applies formally only to the plaintiff. Nevertheless, lawyers have already indicated that the decision could have fundamental importance and far-reaching consequences for the approximately 5.4 million people in Germany who have been vaccinated with the vector vaccine Janssen from Johnson & Johnson.

The judgment of the Berlin Administrative Court thus also confirms the assessment of the EMA. According to this, a vaccination with Johnson & Johnson is sufficient for the full vaccination status, while the vaccines from AstraZeneca, Biontech and Moderna are different.

Johnson & Johnson vaccinates are only considered fully vaccinated – no booster status

With the verdict, the applicant is considered to be fully vaccinated for the time being due to the previous legal situation*. However, the booster status is not given. In addition, the judges said on Friday that an appeal could be lodged against the decision of the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court.

The applicant for the procedure in Berlin had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine injected once in October 2021. According to the Berlin court, she did not have any further corona vaccinations administered. The Johnson and Johnson vaccinate filed a lawsuit because she was no longer considered fully vaccinated under the prevailing federal regulation, which resulted in her being excluded from the exceptions to the corona measures.

Vaccination status of those vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson was criticized from the start – wave of lawsuits possible?

Politically, the change in the vaccination status of Johnson & Johnson vaccinated people was criticized from the start. It remains to be seen whether an appeal will be lodged against the verdict. Furthermore, there could possibly be a wave of lawsuits due to the judgment at the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court Germany draw.

So far, however, nothing is known about further proceedings regarding the status of vaccinated persons with Johnson & Johnson. However, last week there was already a judgment on the vaccination status of Johnson & Johnson vaccinated people in Schleswig-Holstein. The decision contradicted the judgment of the Berlin court. In the northernmost state, the administrative court of Schleswig-Holstein ruled that applicants who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine once were not entitled to fully immunized vaccination status. * kreiszeitung.de, 24hamburg.de and merkur.de are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA.