Saturday 20th November 2021
Criticism of Spahn’s plan
Countries want to order unlimited Biontech
Federal Health Minister Spahn wants to prevent the Moderna vaccine from rotting on the shelves. Therefore, he wants to throttle the orders for the Biontech vaccine. The prime ministers of several countries protested loudly against it.
The Federal Ministry of Health is facing severe criticism from the federal states because of planned order restrictions for the corona vaccine from Biontech in favor of the preparation from Moderna. Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Health, Heiner Garg, accused the Managing Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, of using Biontech to ration the vaccine with the highest public acceptance. Bavaria’s head of department Klaus Holetschek also protested against the announced limit. That was unacceptable, he told the German Press Agency in Munich.
Meanwhile, Spahn defended the project. Among other things, he referred to the recent sharp rise in demand for Biontech and emphasized that with Biontech and Moderna there are two excellent and highly effective vaccines. In a letter to the federal states, the Federal Ministry of Health announced restrictions on order quantities for the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer so that the Moderna preparation can be used more frequently for booster vaccinations. Otherwise, stored Moderna cans threatened to expire from the middle of the first quarter of 2022, which must be avoided. For the time being, practices should be able to order a maximum of 30 doses of Biontech per week, vaccination centers and mobile vaccination teams 1020 doses. There should be no upper limits for orders from Moderna.
The federal and state governments have jointly determined that a large, joint effort is now required to vaccinate, said Holetschek. The “booster” vaccinations are particularly important. If one now hears that the Biontech vaccine should be restricted, it is “absolutely unacceptable and destroys the necessary trust that the citizens must have in us in this highly dramatic situation”. Holetschek, chairman of the conference of health ministers of the federal states, wants to put the topic on the agenda of the conference deliberations planned for Monday.
Doctors face problems
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Minister of Health Stefanie Drese spoke of an “emergency stop on a straight line”. This is a gamble of trust that the Biontech vaccine has the highest level of acceptance among people. The Green health expert Janosch Dahmen warned on Twitter of a “handbrake when vaccinating”. FDP parliamentary group vice-president Michael Theurer said: “That must be a bad joke.” Lots of vaccinations are needed. Defining maximum quantities now is absolutely counterproductive and sends a completely wrong signal.
Medical representatives also sharply criticized. They anticipate a significantly increased need for advice in the practices because patients have already made appointments for a Biontech vaccination, which it may not be possible to keep. The Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians demanded, according to a report by “Bild am Sonntag”, that the “serious wrong decision” had to be revised. The practices would still have to be able to order all vaccines without restrictions.
Spahn told the dpa: “I know that this short-term changeover means a lot of additional stress for many committed helpers on site in the doctor’s offices and vaccination centers. And I expressly regret that.” The demand for Biontech has risen so strongly in the last two weeks that the warehouse is empty very quickly. In the new week alone, almost six million doses would be delivered to the vaccinating agencies. That is more than there has ever been in Germany in terms of booster vaccinations.
5.6 million already have boosters
An overview from his ministry also shows that Germany is expected to donate or has donated almost 8.8 million cans of Biontech to third countries this month via the Covax initiative. With Biontech and Moderna there are two excellent and highly effective vaccines, said Spahn. There are enough of both to vaccinate 50 million people by the end of the year. “I can promise that anyone who wants to be vaccinated will get a good, safe, and effective vaccine.” In some studies on the effect, a third vaccination with Moderna even performed better than one with Biontech.
The health policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Sabine Dittmar, said that Moderna’s vaccine is very powerful and is based on the same mRNA technology. “Studies even indicate a slightly higher and longer-lasting protective effect of the Moderna vaccine.” Nevertheless, Spahn’s short-term announcement that it would cut back deliveries from Biontech was a setback in the booster campaign. “In a very practical way, it throws the scheduling of many practices upside down.” According to the Ministry of Health, 5.6 million people have received a booster vaccination so far. This week alone, 1.7 million citizens have been “boosted”, Spahn tweeted.