Germany: Commission approves acceleration of 35m vaccine supply to make up for shortfalls

The German government has secured the approval of the European Commission to speed up the delivery of 35 million vaccines against Covid-19, in order to cover the deficit identified for the first quarter of next year.

Speaking at a news conference earlier in the day with Robert Koch’s president, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach spoke of a “first success” and added that he was in contact with Moderna for the immediate supply of some 35 million vaccines. approved by the European Commission.

“We will continue the effort. Our very successful vaccination campaign must not be stopped due to a lack of vaccines,” Lauterbach said, adding that he was in contact with other countries – including Portugal, Poland and Romania. and Bulgaria – to secure even more vaccines.

Mr Wheeler said there had been a slight decline in the number of cases, but in one-fifth of the country’s regions the rate of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days was over 500, while in these areas many Intensive Care Units Treatment is in a critical condition. Regarding the new “Omicron” variant, the head of the “Robert Koch” Institute stated that “it is a matter of time” to prevail, while it is much more contagious and will lead to an increase in cases, however, he clarified that for the time being remains the “Delta”. Mr Wheeler added, however, that no details were known at this time about how serious the disease was from “Omicron”, but asked “not to allow Christmas to become an Omicron party”.

Regarding Omicron and the disease it causes in children, the Director of the Pediatric Clinic of the University Hospital of Cologne and member of the Government Specialists Committee Jκrg Detz, who participated in the same press conference, stressed that the initial suspicions of a serious development of disease from “Omicron” do not seem to be confirmed. Referring to the discussion about the possible closure of schools, Mr. Detz noted that the various variations of the main coronavirus strain have not caused an increase in cases among students, but have led to an increase in cases in families. He “unreservedly” recommended the vaccination of adolescents aged 12-17 years, noting that the potential risk of the vaccine is significantly reduced in relation to the risk of the disease, while for children aged 5-11 years he said that be “definitely” vaccinated if they have an underlying disease. Healthy children can also be vaccinated, he added, if their parents decide.

Vaccination of children aged 5-11 has also started in Germany this week and, according to the Ministry of Health, more than 2.2 million doses have been delivered to clinics and vaccination centers since Sunday. Vaccinations against Covid-19 reached a new record last week with an average of 1.496 million doses per day on average, and to date 70% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

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Source From: Capital

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