On Friday the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide on the approval of a third vaccine in the EU: that of Astrazeneca. The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recommended the manufacturer’s vaccine only for people under 64 years of age.
The Swedish-British company also admitted massive delivery problems last week due to production problems in a Belgian plant. What causes annoyance in Brussels is that deliveries to customers in third countries such as Great Britain are not cut.
The effects of the dispute and the supply bottlenecks on the national vaccination strategy have not yet been fully clarified. The most important questions and answers about vaccination progress in Germany:
How many Corona vaccination doses have been delivered to Germany so far?
So far, only the vaccines from the two manufacturers Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna have been approved in Germany. With the last delivery from Biontech on Tuesday, the federal states have received a total of 3.34 million doses of the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer. In addition, the manufacturer Moderna also delivered a total of around 64,000 cans by Tuesday. In total, Germany currently has around 3.4 million vaccine doses.
How many people have been vaccinated so far?
In Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the Federal Ministry of Health, a total of around 2.1 million vaccine doses were administered up to and including Wednesday. This means that a little more than 1.7 million people received the first corona vaccination – this corresponds to 2.1 percent of the total German population. However, for complete vaccination protection, each person needs two vaccination doses. 366,081 people in Germany have already received the second dose – that is 0.4 percent of the total population.
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Who has been vaccinated so far?
Almost half of the vaccination doses administered so far – 47.4 percent to be precise – went to medical staff and nursing staff: A total of 996,890 vaccine doses, i.e. almost a million, were vaccinated to people in the health and care professions. Around a third of the vaccination doses were given to residents of nursing homes – a total of 692,687 vaccinations. The remaining 20 percent of the available doses went to the elderly and those with previous illnesses.
How much vaccine is Germany getting according to the current status?
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) has promised that Germany would receive a total of more than 300 million vaccine doses. A month after the vaccination campaign began, it is still unclear whether he can keep this promise. That depends on whether all the vaccines ordered are approved and whether the manufacturers can deliver them on time.
Delivery bottlenecks such as the current one from the manufacturer Astrazeneca make it difficult to make precise forecasts. According to the Ministry of Health, 56 million doses from Astrazeneca have been agreed and expected for Germany via the EU, at least 64 million doses from Biontech / Pfizer with an option for at least 30 million more vaccine doses – and Moderna is to deliver a total of 50 million doses.
In addition, at least 53 million cans had been agreed with the company CureVac from Tübingen via the EU with an option to 20 million cans for Germany. The manufacturer Johnson & Johnson is said to deliver 37.25 million across the EU. However, neither Curevac nor Johnson & Johnson have yet applied for approval for their vaccine.
How many vaccination doses do Biontech and Moderna want to deliver promptly?
Biontech / Pfizer plans to deliver between 11 and 13 million cans in the first quarter of 2021. This week, almost 180,000 fewer cans were delivered than initially planned, from the beginning of February it will initially be two percent more than planned, then eleven percent more and from February 22nd about 36 percent more. Moderna is expected to deliver just under two million cans in the first quarter.
How quickly does Berlin vaccinate?
According to the RKI, 108,821 doses have been inoculated in Berlin so far. The first vaccination was given to 84,111 people, the second to 24,710. This means that the vaccination rate in the capital is 2.3 percent – slightly above the national rate of 2.1 percent of the population.
What do supply bottlenecks at manufacturers mean for the vaccination strategy?
The Standing Vaccination Commission has now only recommended Astrazeneca’s vaccine for people up to 64 years of age for the time being. The recommendation can, however, be adjusted again if the company presents further data on vaccination protection for older people that has already been announced.
His doses are not useless, because if the drug is approved in the EU from this Friday, they can be inoculated to other people from the first priority level instead of the vaccines from BiontechPfizer and Moderna, such as nurses and medical staff.
How quickly does Germany vaccinate in an international comparison?
Israel continues to lead the way with 49,130 vaccine doses administered per 100,000 people. This is followed by the United Arab Emirates with 27,950 and the Seychelles with 21,000 cans. Germany is in 20th place with 2535 doses administered. (with dpa)
