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Should the booster vaccination against Corona be recommended for everyone? Stiko wants to make a decision on this soon. The World Medical Association calls for the widest possible use of the booster shot.
Berlin – The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) wants to decide at short notice whether booster vaccinations against the coronavirus are recommended for everyone in Germany.
“The Standing Vaccination Commission is currently examining very intensively whether it will recommend booster vaccinations for all population groups,” said the chairman of the Stiko, Thomas Mertens, to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
There are data from international studies that speak in favor of it, but it must be examined to what extent these results can be transferred to Germany. “A decision about this will be made in a few weeks,” said Mertens. With such a general recommendation for booster vaccinations, the decisive question is whether this can slow down the spread of the virus, said Mertens.
So far, the Stiko has recommended booster vaccinations for people over the age of 70. However, the acting Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had pointed out that according to the Vaccination Ordinance, in principle all people are entitled to booster vaccinations. Medical representatives then criticized Spahn. As a result of Spahn’s statement, the need for information and discussion in the practices that set the vaccinations increased, said the general practitioner association.
Montgomery calls for new vaccination campaign
Meanwhile, the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, called for the widest possible use of booster vaccinations. “Everyone who was fully vaccinated six months ago should get a booster vaccination soon,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. A new, central vaccination campaign is needed this autumn, which is not only aimed at the unvaccinated, but also promotes general booster vaccinations.
Montgomery explained: “Because the immune protection decreases after six months, we as a society must have an interest in that the protection remains stable.” They have the experience and capacities for this. “On the other hand, it would be wrong to rely on vaccination centers again: In the beginning, vaccination centers were necessary because there was too little vaccine and storage of the doses was complicated.” Vaccination centers are ten times as expensive as vaccination in a doctor’s office. In addition, the threshold for many people to go to the family doctor is much lower.
Spahn had told the “Rheinische Post”: “In order to enable as many as possible to have a booster vaccination as quickly as possible, the federal states should make the vaccination centers that have been on standby ready since the end of September ready again.” first step, invite all over-60s in writing. Boosters are possible at least six months after a full vaccination. This is offered to older people, corona risk groups and vaccinated people with Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson, among others. But they are also possible for everyone else. dpa
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