Status: 07/02/2021 8:48 a.m.
At the start of the vaccination in the doctor’s office there were only a few vaccine doses per week – now the doctors are to receive plenty of vaccine for the first time in the coming week. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians expects this.
Germany’s medical practices are likely to receive the amount of corona vaccine they have ordered for the first time in the coming week. That said the chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, the news agency dpa.
With around 2.3 million doses ordered nationwide, the practices would have requested fewer vaccines than were available. The practices still need sufficient vaccine.
For next week, the medical practices nationwide ordered around two million BioNTech vaccine doses – although they could have ordered 2.2 million. AstraZeneca ordered 325,000 cans, 1.1 million would have been ready.
Patients and doctors on vacation
Gassen said that since the start of the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, the contract doctors have regularly received significantly less vaccine than they needed. Now the holidays made themselves felt in more and more federal states.
Many patients and doctors are on vacation. More and more people are also vaccinated. “Nevertheless, the rush in most medical practices is unbroken.” Many practices are still in the process of working through the long waiting lists.
Re-vaccination of nursing home residents
In view of the rapid spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, patient advocates have meanwhile called for a quick decision to re-vaccinate nursing home residents. “A political decision is needed in July as to when the refreshment offer for nursing home residents should start,” said the board of the Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, of the editorial network in Germany.
Most of the home residents would have received their second dose of vaccine in February. It is becoming apparent that vaccination protection is losing its effectiveness more quickly in the very elderly than in the young and middle generation. Therefore, no time should be wasted now, warned Brysch.
Stiko: The data is too thin to update
However, the data situation is still too thin for clear recommendations on booster vaccinations, said the chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Thomas Mertens. “For a solid answer you still need data, time and work,” says Mertens of the “Rheinische Post”.
Accordingly, a distinction has to be made between so-called immune parameters, which can be determined in the laboratory, and the duration of protection of a vaccination. These indicators are not the same for everyone, but depend on the age and immune competence of the vaccinated person. “So far there have been few results on the immune parameters, and we expect more and more in the summer,” said the Stiko boss.