Germany has a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in millions ahead of an “unstoppable” Omicron wave. Germany says that it will be distributing more shots to countries like Poland and Romania.
Karl Lauterbach (Germany’s new Health Minister) said today that Germany was now racing for more vaccines. He stated that this was to help speed up the booster campaign, which was central to its strategy to fight the newly developed highly infectious variant.
Three experts spoke on German TV, echoing this sentiment, and saying that there is no stopping the Omicron tsunami from sweeping Europe.
Lauterbach indicated that Germany will receive 1.2 million doses next week of Pfizer/BioNTech, which would be distributed to vaccination centers and doctor’s practices.
He said that another 800,000.00 would be delivered the next week and another 1.2million the week following. In the first quarter next year, the country hoped to be able to get millions of booster shots that are adapted for the omicron version from Biontech/Pfizer.
In the grim warning, he stated that this was far lower than the amount doctors ask for every week. He also said Germany was approaching the end its reserves.
He said, “The campaign needs to roll…but there literally is no more there.”
Karl Lauterbach today stated that the country is now racing for more vaccines as part of its booster program. It was central to its strategy against this new highly infectious variant.
Covid-19 in Germany has been declining over the past weeks (photo). Although the daily statistics are encouraging, experts warn that Omicron will be a major problem in the months ahead. Germany is not ready.
Lauterbach reported that German authorities had begun negotiations with Romanian, Bulgaria, Poland, and Portugal to get a “emergency buyback” of millions of vaccines from the eastern European countries in order to prepare for the inevitable.
Recent weeks have seen a drop in Covid-19 case numbers in Germany. Although the positive daily statistics are encouraging, experts warn that Omicron will pose a significant challenge to Germany over the next few months. Germany is not ready.
Sandra Ciesek, a prominent virologist warned that Omicron was unstoppable today. Sandra Ciesek compared the nation’s preparedness to “running into a disaster with our eyes open.”
According to her, most of the research about the variants has been done in South Africa. This is where the strain was initially discovered. Omicron appears to have a higher transmissibility than Delta.
But Ciesek, from the University Hospital Frankfurt, said this should not be taken for granted in Germany. She stated that there are not yet any systematic data on Germany and did not know the severity of diseases.
He spoke alongside experts Dirk Brockmann, Christoph Neumann–Haefelin at a press conference. They said that the pandemic was repeating itself and compared the spreading of the variant with the previous wave.
Brockmann, who is the head of Epidemiological Modeling of Infectious Diseases (Robert Koch Institute), stated that Omicron cannot be stopped at this point.
The child vaccination center in the Natural History Museum administers a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Covid-19 vaccinations were started today in Berlin for children aged five to eleven years.
Before becoming the health minister this month, epidemiologist Lauterbach was the health spokesman for the Social Democrat party, which is now the largest part in Germany’s ruling coalition after ousting Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
His comments on the pandemic were also very popular and trusted.
According to reports, the health ministry said it would spend approximately 2.2 billion euro on 80 million Pfizer tablets through EU procurement channels.
The company also stated that it is looking for 12 million more doses to “start the New Year in a responsible manner.”
The current Covid case in Germany is 90% made up of the Delta variant.
Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute of Infectious Diseases said that although there are only about 100 Omicron cases currently in Germany, the strain will soon become the most common.
The European Commission announced today that it had reached an agreement to expedite deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine from the United States to Germany and the other European Union members. This is due to increased cases from the Omicron variant.
Pictured: On December 14th, 2021, people waited in line for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination against Covid-19. This was at a drive to immunize them in Bad Wilsneck’s 16-century Sankt Nikolaikirche Church.
Europe’s governments are facing a host of rising infections. Some countries, including Germany, have imposed restrictions in order to stop the spread of Omicron coronavirus.
Faced with a fourth and very strong outbreak of the virus in Germany, the German government tightened restrictions against unvaccinated individuals, banning them out of public spaces, restaurants, or other essential commerce.
For those who work in hospitals or nursing homes, vaccinations will be mandatory starting March 16.
EC: “In light of the Omicron variant’s rapid increase in cases, and the necessity to boost vaccination, the Commission works with vaccine manufacturers to speed up the delivery of vaccine doses.”
Moderna will deliver 10,000,000 doses of its mRNA vaccine to Germany by December. Additional 25 million doses are expected to arrive in the first quarter 2022.