Photographer: Fabrizio Bensch / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Fabrizio Bensch / AFP / Getty Images
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany will speed up its vaccine against Covid-19, trying to recover from the temporary detention of AstraZeneca Plc shot for blood clot problems.
With Europe facing a resurgence of the French virus in the Czech Republic, Merkel set out the prospect of taking advantage of the crisis while indicating that perhaps Germany should undo part of its previous blockade. Three vaccines available and the expected arrival of a Johnson & Johnson shot will help, he said.
“Starting in April, we want to be faster and more flexible and we will be able to do that,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Friday after talks with German state leaders. “We want to complement the proverbial German thoroughness with greater flexibility.”
Like many of her European counterparts, Merkel faces challenges on multiple fronts. For now, it is caught between European Union vaccination problems, public discontent over its response to the pandemic and the resurgence of cases after Germany eased blockade restrictions. This week, support for his government bloc fell to a one-year low.
On Monday, Merkel and state leaders will debate whether restrictions on Europe’s largest economy should be extended until April or even tightened, rather than eased, as suggest the government earlier this month. German Covid-19 cases peaked in two months on Thursday.
“We’re seeing exponential growth” in cases, Merkel said Friday. “Unfortunately we will have to use the emergency brake.”
There and again
Countries across Europe suspended and re-established the use of the Astra vaccine
Source: Bloomberg
Europe’s effort to accelerate its vaccination campaign against Covid-19 faces the challenge of restoring public confidence after a chaotic week of vaccine suspensions, health scares and threats to ban export.
EU officials are trying to move towards the second quarter, when vaccine deliveries are expected to recover quickly. On Thursday, the EU drug regulator made clear the shooting of AstraZeneca after reports linked it to blood clots in a small number of patients.
“Whenever you deploy a vaccine like this for millions and millions of people, there will be coincident events and others that will happen in parallel during the launch,” the World Health Organization’s senior adviser told reporters on Friday. Hello, Bruce Aylward.
“What populations are generally looking for is for these to be properly assessed, so that their confidence can be assured,” he said.
Merkel addressed the issue of public confidence in vaccines on Friday and said she is ready to shoot AstraZeneca.
Sputnik option
Russia’s Sputnik vaccine is also an option if approved by the European Medicines Agency, Merkel said. While a joint European order from Russia would be preferable, “we should go a German way on our own” if necessary, he said.
Although the slowdown in the German infection rate has been reversed in March, the country still has fewer cases per capita than countries like Italy and France, where a four-week renewed shutdown in Paris and some other regions began on Friday.
Health Minister Jens Spahn, who is facing the resignation of the opposition, said earlier on Friday that Germany is in a “third wave” of Covid-19 with a large number of cases of variant virus.
“We have some pretty tough weeks left,” he said.
Measures to increase Germany’s vaccination boost include allowing German medical offices to start vaccines against AstraZeneca on April 6, Merkel said. In general, the plan calls for vaccination options to be gradually expanded to include existing physicians and vaccination centers.
“The slogan is: vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate,” Merkel said.
– With the assistance of Corinne Gretler
(Updates with Merkel’s comments on the growth of Covid cases in the sixth paragraph.)