All vaccines are needed in the World War against the coronavirus, stresses French President Emmanuel Macron. If too many people reject the AstraZeneca vaccine, it could jeopardize the entire vaccination campaign, say German experts who told Der Spiegel.

Coronavirus – the second year

It has been more than a year since the Chinese authorities reported the emergence of a new, rapidly spreading virus to the WHO. Since then, there has hardly been a person in the world who has not heard the term Covid-19, and more and more people are mourning a relative or friend with whom the new disease has ended while existences have collapsed in weeks and our entire lives have been rewritten by the epidemic. By now, the vaccines have been completed, which in turn raises not only hope, but again a lot of questions, while not only stopping the virus, but also threatening another mutation. You can find the details of this fight in our series of articles.

In the state of Hessen, the authorities do not find enough people at risk under the age of 65 for the AstraZeneca vaccine. In Saxony, there are so few applicants that those who are eligible can apply for vaccination right away without having to ask for an appointment. According to a report by the German Red Cross, at 50 vaccination sites, it was often the case that people did not even come for the AstraZeneca vaccination. And whoever came often asked for another vaccine.

So far, 736,800 of the British-Swedish vaccine have arrived in Germany, but only 100,586 have been used. Another 750,000 arrive in Germany from the AstraZeneca vaccine this week, a number that will rise to 5.6 million by the end of March.

Why do the Germans reject it? It’s simply pragmatism, ”says a hospital nurse who has been working intensively for twenty years. “We are much more exposed to the virus in healthcare, yet we get a weaker vaccine than the older generations.” The nurse, who asked for his name to be withheld, suspects that more BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will arrive later. He’s waiting for that too. Just like 20-25% of your colleagues, writes a The mirror.

What will happen to Chancellor Merkel’s plan to have everyone vaccinated by the end of September who asks the authorities in Germany?

AstraZeneca offers 60% protection, BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna 95% – this previous information is the main reason for staying. THE The mirror draws attention, however, to the recent report that, after the second AstraZeneca vaccination, there were no cases in which the person had to be hospitalized or possibly died of the infection. That is, the AstraZeneca vaccine also significantly alleviates the effects of the coronavirus.

Another reason to stay is that there have been quite a few unpleasant experiences with the adverse side effects of Astra Zeneca vaccination. This was especially true at Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Braunschweig, where a resident doctor complained, “12 hours after vaccination, the cold began to shake and I felt like I had a fever. The thermometer showed more than 40 degrees. I wanted to go to the hospital the next day, but I was so weak that I couldn’t do it. ”

Unfortunately, he was not alone in this, as 88 hospital staff received the AstraZeneca vaccine and 37 showed similar side effects. More specifically, these are not side effects either. It is simply a matter of the body’s natural immune response to the vaccine, which is stronger the stronger one’s immune system.

Either way, no member of the staff at Princess Elizabeth Hospital has since taken the AstraZeneca vaccination. And a recent poll shows that only 2.8% of Germans would choose AstraZeneca, The mirror.

There is also a lot of mistrust elsewhere

3,000 doctors have written a letter to the Italian government demanding that they be vaccinated with BioNTech / Pfizer or Moderna, not AstraZeneca, the Forbes. The head of the French Medical Association stated in a Wall Street Journalthat “healthcare staff should receive the best vaccine (BioNTech / Pfizer, Moderna). Healthy young people get Astra Zeneca. ”

A Forbes also asked AstraZeneca about the problems they encountered and received this response: “Clinical tests have also indicated the possibility of these side effects. Our vaccine has been approved by more than 50 countries on four continents. Serious cases have not been reported in any of the vaccine cases to date. ” For the sake of objectivity, Forbes also described: unpleasant side effects have been reported with other vaccines.



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