Berlin – from the German government coronavirus the answer descended into chaos. Chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to rescind a last-minute order this week for a strict Easter blockade – accepting that there was no time to implement the measure, despite the increase in infections.
It was just the last misstep of his coalition government, which faces fierce criticism for dealing with the pandemic, especially for its hesitation vaccine launch.
The need to increase inoculations is becoming more urgent as a third wave of COVID-19 infections spreads across Germany. The head of the government’s health agency warned on Friday that Germany could see up to 100,000 new cases a day if the spread of the disease is not controlled.
Europe’s largest economy, along with its European Union partners, lagged far behind the United Kingdom and the United States when it comes to administering vaccines. As of this week, only about 10% of Germany’s adult population had received at least one vaccine injection. This is compared to 55% in the UK and 25% in the USA. Germany does not even make it to the list of the 20 largest nations in terms of vaccination rates worldwide.
While the European Union is struggling with vaccine producers to get more doses, supply is far from the only factor behind Germany’s low inoculation rate. Approximately 3.9 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are on the shelves across the country, according to official statistics.
The country is also making slower progress when compared to other EU nations, which have received approximately the same amount of vaccines per capita. Denmark and Estonia, for example, have already administered more than 160 doses per 1,000 inhabitants. Germany is below the European average of 125 per 1,000.
Supporters of the German approach point out that part of the unused vaccine supply has been deliberately withheld to provide second doses. But the federal government expanded the recommended number of weeks between doses in mid-February, partly to address this problem.
The decentralized nature of the implementation made it difficult to blame any entity. Germany’s 16 federal states are responsible for organizing vaccines in their own jurisdictions. Under pressure after her party failed to win two regional elections earlier this month, Merkel this week called on state administrators to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy, which she said was hampering the vaccination campaign.
Dr. Joachim Wunderlich, a cardiologist who helped staff at a local vaccination center in Berlin, told CBS News that the bureaucratic process for people to be vaccinated in Germany was “unbelievable” and the amount of paperwork involved, “insane”.
“You cannot expect a person over 80 to complete 10 pages and various forms of consent and ask them to call a hotline to make an appointment,” he said. “And so they run the risk of being refused because they forgot some forms at home.”
Public confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine, in particular, has also been a major problem. The government, along with several other EU nations, suspended the use of the injection for a few days earlier this month, after reports that people who had the virus developed clots.
Even after the European Medicines Agency clearly stated after a data review that the vaccine was safe and that the benefits of getting it outweighed any risks, health professionals across Germany said that many of their patients were still reluctant to make an appointment for the injection.
The fear of a blood clot arose after Germany, again followed by some of its EU partners, initially refused to authorize the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65, citing the lack of empirical data from trials that showed it was effective. for that age group. That hesitation came despite significant evidence from the UK’s real world, where the drug was already being administered to the elderly, that it helped prevent serious illnesses.
With some exceptions in remote areas, where doctors can offer vaccines, only dedicated mass vaccination centers and mobile units that visit nursing homes are currently allowed to administer the vaccines. Across the country, these facilities still operate at just 67% of their capacity, which translates to about 100,000 unused schedules every day.
But Germany still gave the green light only to people over 80, and those with serious pre-existing problems, to schedule appointments, leaving many young people who would like a chance unable to take advantage of overcapacity.
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at the University of Hamburg, told CBS News that, although prioritization is absolutely necessary, a little more flexibility would make Germany’s vaccination mechanism much more efficient.
Nicolas Armer / picture alliance / Getty
“At the moment, we are in the process of vaccinating 80 years old and the most vulnerable members of society, which is important from an ethical point of view. In view of the scarcity of supply, we need to stick to this prioritization for now, but the whole process needs to be faster. ”
The government has promised to speed up the launch, allowing all German general practitioners – family doctors or GPs, as they are commonly known – to administer vaccines in their local offices.
“Germany has a GP infrastructure that works well. If they were included, we could vaccinate at a much higher rate, and this should have been done for a long time, ”said Schmidt-Chanasit.
Wunderlich agreed.
“I know my patients, I know their pre-existing concerns and conditions. I don’t want them to call a hotline if they could just call the doctor and get the vaccine at my clinic,” he told CBS News. “The pandemic is scary enough, bureaucracy and data protection laws shouldn’t make it any worse.”