Status: 08/11/2021 8:00 p.m.
For the first time, Germany is foregoing planned deliveries of mRNA vaccines. Two million batches from the US manufacturer Moderna are going to other EU countries – although its vaccine could be particularly effective against the Delta variant.
In view of the declining willingness to vaccinate, Germany is foregoing the delivery of millions of doses of the mRNA vaccine from Moderna. As can be seen from a list by the Federal Ministry of Health, around 2.65 million vaccine doses from the US manufacturer are to be given to other EU countries instead.
“Spiegel” quoted a spokesman for the ministry as saying that the vaccine would be distributed “via the usual EU mechanism”. Specifically, it is about two batches, each with a good 1.3 million cans, which were planned for the first two weeks of August.
EMA is investigating possible rare side effects
For the first time since the start of the vaccination campaign, Germany is not making use of the mRNA doses that have been promised and available – although the vaccines from the manufacturers BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna are considered to be the most effective in the fight against the coronavirus. It had previously been announced that the Federal Republic of Germany was also dispensing with the vaccine from the manufacturer Johnson & Johnson in favor of other countries. All deliveries from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca are donated to the international aid initiative Covax.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it will investigate possible rare side effects of the mRNA vaccines. The authority said that it was suspected that a few cases of allergic skin reactions and kidney infections could be related to vaccinations. The EMA did not give details of how many suspected cases there were. The drug authority asked the company for more data, it said.
Stocks collapse
On Wall Street, the shares of the two manufacturers Moderna and BioNTech fell by more than fourteen percent each. However, the papers had risen very strongly in the past few weeks. Observers therefore assumed that many investors were looking for an opportunity to reap short-term profits.
Previously, a study had become known, according to which the Moderna vaccine could be particularly effective against the particularly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. In the study of more than 50,000 patients of the municipal hospital network Mayo Clinic Health System in the USA, scientists came to the conclusion that the effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine fell to 76 percent in July – from 86 percent with the increasing spread of the Delta variant at the beginning of the year. The effectiveness of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine fell from 76 percent to 42 percent. However, both vaccines are still considered to be highly effective against the risk of having to be treated in hospital with a severe Covid course.