Corona: Vaccinations will have to be refreshed soon

The vaccination campaign in Germany continues to make progress. However, vaccination could become routine.

Berlin – The vaccinations against Corona will probably have to be refreshed in the coming year. This is what the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) assumes. “The virus will not leave us again. The current corona vaccinations will therefore not be the last, ”said Stiko chairman Thomas Mertens to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Sunday editions). In order to guarantee this, it “makes sense” to also boost the production of corona vaccines in Germany.

How much time must lie between the corona vaccination and the booster is still unclear in view of the data situation, according to Mertens. “We will certainly have to wait a few more months to see whether the vaccination protection is already waning in individual groups or whether it was generally too weak.”

Corona: Vaccination in Germany has to be refreshed

SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach expects vaccinations against Corona to become routine in Germany. “I assume that the immunity will last around six months after a vaccination against Covid-19,” Lauterbach told the Funke newspapers. “The first refresher will therefore be due in autumn for some.” He does not expect just one refresher. “It will certainly not just be a refresher. The coronavirus and its mutants will keep us busy for the foreseeable future. We will have to regularly vaccinate against Covid-19 in the next few years. “

The vaccination would have to be carried out with an adapted vaccine. The vaccines from Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson do not work so well against the South African corona variant. “If this variant spreads widely among us, the affected people should be the first to be immunized better,” says Lauterbach. The manufacturers are already working on modified vaccines, said Thomas Mertens. A new vaccine should also immunize and work against the mutants for years – but it will probably only be approved in 2022.

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Willingness to vaccinate against Corona is growing in Germany

In Germany, more and more people are showing a willingness to be vaccinated. Almost three quarters of Germans of age want to be immunized against the coronavirus according to a YouGov survey. Of these, 38 percent of those surveyed have already received at least one vaccination. 38 percent are still planning to do so, according to the results of the survey.

Before the start of the vaccination campaign in December, the willingness to be vaccinated against Corona was only 65 percent. At that time, 19 percent of those surveyed said they were still unsure about a vaccination, now it is only 15 percent. The proportion of undecided has fallen from 16 to 11 percent.

The federal government is campaigning for as many people as possible in Germany to be immunized. According to experts, the vaccination rate would have to be between 60 and 80 percent to ensure herd immunity. So far, over 30 million people in Germany have received at least one vaccination. That is 36.5 percent of the total population. On Wednesday (May 12th, 2021) 1.35 million people in Germany were vaccinated against Corona within one day, a new record. (Sebastian Richter / dpa / afp)

List of rubric lists: © Frank Molter / dpa