So far, the Standing Vaccination Commission has only recommended corona vaccinations for children and adolescents with certain previous illnesses. But there are increasing demands to change this recommendation.
Berlin – After the number of infections in Germany rose slightly for the first time in a long time at the weekend, there are increasing demands for vaccinations, including among children and adolescents.
Vaccinations of children and adolescents
SPD leader Saskia Esken has asked the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) to reconsider its stance on the corona vaccination of young people. “We urgently need a vaccine for children, and I also hope that Stiko will soon reconsider its restricted vaccination recommendation for young people,” she told the “Rheinische Post”. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) also demands: “The Stiko should urgently consider when to recommend vaccinating young people.” That would increase protection for everyone and give freedom back to a generation that had to forego a lot.
The Stiko has not yet issued a general vaccination recommendation for children and adolescents from the age of twelve. She recommends vaccinations only for 12 to 17 year olds with certain pre-existing conditions such as obesity, diabetes and chronic lung diseases. The committee justified its recommendation, among other things, with the fact that the risk of severe Covid 19 disease for this age group is low.
Corona measures for fully vaccinated people in focus
The chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, has called for the end of all corona measures for fully vaccinated people. “By September at the latest, a vaccination offer will be available for everyone who wants to be vaccinated, then almost all corona measures will have to go,” he told the “Bild” newspaper. “Everyone can then still decide individually whether he or she wants to keep wearing the mask – but then it should no longer be an obligation.”
The elimination of the measures is also important in order to keep vaccination standards high. “Some people will otherwise ask themselves: Why should I get vaccinated, maybe accept two days of headache or other side effects of the vaccination and do something for herd immunity if I have to continue to wear a mask just because 20 to 30 percent of people refuse.”
In view of the rapidly spreading delta variant of the corona virus, the FDP parliamentary group calls on the government to act. “The federal government must by no means leave the summer months unused in order to prepare for autumn and a possible fourth wave,” said Parliamentary Managing Director Bettina Stark-Watzinger of the German Press Agency in Berlin. “It’s not about alarmism, but the scientists’ warnings must be taken seriously,” she said. It should not happen “that in a few months we will again run after the pandemic development”.
How to deal with vaccination deadlines
FDP deputy chief Wolfgang Kubicki has spoken out against fines for truant vaccinations. It is “annoying and unsocial” to miss an agreed date, said FDP Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki to the partner newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft. “Nevertheless, it would make more sense to first appeal to people to cancel their appointment in good time so that others can receive the vaccine.”
The President of the German District Assembly, Reinhard Sager, sees it similarly: “The districts reject penalties for people who do not attend their second vaccination appointment without being canceled,” he told the “Welt”. Although the behavior is not based on solidarity, it would be inappropriate to use the “regulatory club” in these cases. “Instead of thinking about penalties, we should think: What can we do to keep vaccination up high?” Said Sager.
At the weekend there was a discussion about penalties for skipped vaccination appointments. “It would be right if there were a penalty for those who do not even cancel their appointment,” said SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach of “Bild am Sonntag”.
“I appeal strongly to all of us for solidarity. This is a common social task with a good dose of individual responsibility, ”said Bavaria’s Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU) of the“ world ”. “But if we notice that this solidarity does not exist in parts of society, we have to think about how we can demand it in the interests of everyone, possibly also through sanctions.”
The German Association of Cities called for greater commitment from politicians in order to convince those unwilling to be vaccinated. “We need to address more people who have so far been reluctant to vaccinate. We have to make them low-threshold offers and persuade them, ”said the President of the German Association of Cities and Mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung (SPD), of the“ Rheinische Post ”. “We want to reach out to hard-to-reach people in disadvantaged neighborhoods more. Mobile vaccination teams will therefore play a bigger role in the near future. ”Vaccination remains the key to coping with the pandemic. dpa
