Stiko boss disagrees with Lauterbach’s recommendation for the fourth vaccination
Lauterbach’s recommendations – “You can’t really see through it anymore”
“Lauterbach wants everyone to be vaccinated, in consultation with the family doctor,” said WELT reporter Marie Przibylla. But does the fourth vaccination make sense and is the fifth vaccination recommendation from the Minister of Health coming in the fall?
“I think it’s bad to make medical recommendations under the motto ‘a lot helps a lot'”: The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission rejects Lauterbach’s suggestion that young people should also be vaccinated a fourth time. You can’t vaccinate the entire population every year.
Thomas Mertens, Chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), has spoken out against an immediate corona fourth vaccination for younger people. He does not know any data that would justify such advice, he told WELT AM SONNTAG: “I think it’s bad to make medical recommendations under the motto ‘a lot helps a lot’.”
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) told the “Spiegel” on Friday: “If someone wants to enjoy the summer and doesn’t want to take the risk of falling ill, then I would also recommend the vaccination to younger people in consultation with the family doctor. Then you simply have a completely different level of security.”
“Cannot vaccinate the entire population every year”
The Stiko boss does not share this view. He still thinks the recommendation of his commission, according to which people over 70, those with previous illnesses and nursing staff should administer the fourth dose, is correct. Mertens still thinks that the EU health authority ECDC and the EU medicines authority EMA set the age limit at 60 this week as justifiable: “The risk of a severe course increases with age. It’s not easy to make an accurate age cut here.”
However, it is important to realize “that we cannot constantly vaccinate the entire population – including younger, healthy people – every year. The aim of these vaccinations is not to avoid infections, but to prevent diseases. “Three vaccinations with the available vaccines would provide good protection against severe courses, says Mertens: “But the transmission of the virus is only slightly affected.”