Thursday, May 27, 2021
“STIKO statement irritating”
Because upset about vaccination skepticism among students
Should children and adolescents be vaccinated? Before the federal and state vaccination summit, the skepticism of the Standing Vaccination Commission is not well received by politicians. Health Minister Spahn wants to pass over the body. Lower Saxony’s head of state attacks it. Thuringia and MV ignore it.
In the debate about a corona vaccination for schoolchildren, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil criticized the latest statements by the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO). “The fact that the permanent vaccination commission is suddenly questioning the meaning of a nationwide vaccination of schoolchildren in principle irritates me and many other people,” Weil told the editorial network Germany (RND). “A few weeks ago it was said that schools were breeding grounds for the pandemic. Now it is suddenly said that children and adolescents pose virtually no risk at all. Both are wrong,” Weil said. “Children and adolescents can become infected and pass the virus on, so they have to get a vaccination offer – provided that there is approval, in which the benefits and risks have been weighed,” said the SPD politician.
Weil called on the federal government to provide the necessary vaccination doses for vaccinating the students. “The Federal Minister of Health has aroused the clear expectation that all pupils will be offered a vaccination as soon as the vaccine has been approved for them. I expect the federal government to make the appropriate vaccine doses available in sufficient numbers,” he said. “Additional contingents are necessary for children and young people, there must not be a redistribution at the expense of those entitled to vaccination. That is one of the most important points to be clarified at the vaccination summit,” added Weil.
Spahn does not want to wait for the STIKO vote
Immediately before the vaccination summit between the federal government and the federal states on Thursday, Health Minister Jens Spahn spoke out in the “ntv early start” in favor of including children and adolescents in the vaccination campaign even without a general vaccination recommendation from the STIKO. Parents should individually “make a specific decision with their children and doctors as to whether someone will be vaccinated or not,” said Spahn.
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow set the goal for his state to offer all students from the age of twelve a corona vaccination offer by the end of the summer vacation. It makes him confident “that the majority of parents – and even their children – are very open to vaccinations,” said the left-wing politician in Erfurt. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also announced before the summit that they wanted to vaccinate at least 65 percent of the students from the age of twelve in a timely manner. The government in Schwerin announced that the Ministry of Education in Schwerin will write to the parents and determine how high the overall willingness to vaccinate is, without further addressing the concerns of the STIKO.
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