The number of infections continues to rise in Germany. At the same time, the vaccination protection decreases for many. This is especially dangerous for older and weakened people. Therefore, the EMA now advises all over 60-year-olds to take a second booster. But what about the rest?
“The virus is clever, it changes, and the vaccination protection decreases”: Despite the summer temperatures, the number of infections in Germany continues to rise, warned the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, in the newspapers of the Funke media group. In view of the new corona wave in Europe, leading EU authorities recommend a further booster vaccination for all people aged 60 and over. This could be administered at least four months after the previous vaccination, the EU health authority ECDC and the EU medicines authority EMA announced on Monday. Those with previous illnesses should also get a second booster.
So far, the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) has recommended a further booster vaccination for all people over the age of 70, employees in the health and care sector and people with a weakened immune system. Now all those over 60 who are willing to be vaccinated should be invited to the fourth injection. According to STIKO boss Thomas Mertens, the decision-making process on a possible extension of the existing recommendation for the second booster was already “before the EMA/ECDC announcement”. The panel of experts will comment on this “relatively soon”, Mertens told the dpa.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach also called the EU recommendation “sensible and overdue”. “There is enough vaccine and the number of cases is high,” he emphasized on Twitter. “Waiting for adapted vaccines takes too long and is too risky.”
A study from Israel suggests that the double booster makes sense for the affected groups. According to this, twice-boostered over-60-year-olds are three times better protected against serious illnesses than people in the same age group whose third vaccination was more than four months ago. In addition, the protection against infection is twice as high as for those who have been vaccinated three times.
At the same time, however, the Israeli data also show that for young and healthy adults, a fourth dose of an mRNA vaccine brings only “minor benefit”. In the younger study participants, it increased the number of neutralizing antibodies that prevent the coronavirus from penetrating the cells. However, the values ??after the fourth dose were comparable with the values ??shortly after the third dose.
According to the study, the fourth dose hardly offered any additional protection against infection with the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Subjects who received a fourth Biontech vaccination had a 30 percent lower risk of infection than those vaccinated with three doses. Subjects who received a fourth dose of Moderna only had an 18 percent lower risk of infection.
Nevertheless, Lauterbach advises anyone who “want to have a calmer and symptom-free summer” to consider a fourth vaccination. “Those who want to secure themselves for the summer – a fourth vaccination is definitely a good investment because it will reduce the risk of infection for a few months and protect against severe courses,” said the Minister of Health to ZDF . All citizens can consult their family doctor about the individual benefits and make an individual decision about the second booster vaccination. The family doctor can then administer the fourth vaccination.
However, some experts are critical of Lauterbach’s call. For younger people, the fourth vaccination does not bring any advantage for their own immunity and protection, which is 94 percent after just three vaccinations, nor does it protect against infections and infectivity, said immunologist Andreas Radbruch on RBB. You will get infected just as often as with three vaccinations. The immune system also adapts to these vaccines after several vaccinations and then no longer reacts at all. You lose a bit of the ability to react to the next wave. The immune system becomes full and sluggish. Therefore, from an immunological point of view, three vaccinations are better than four, according to Radbruch, who had also been appointed by the Bundestag as an expert on corona vaccination.
In addition, anyone who has been vaccinated three times and is not particularly old and does not suffer from an immune deficiency is usually very well protected against Covid-19. Fortunately, this also remains the case with the new Omikron lines BA.5 and BA.4. According to the weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the triple vaccination has not lost its importance due to its “high protective effect against a severe course” even in diseases caused by the omicron variant.
But it is also clear that older people and people with weakened immune systems should be given boosters again in view of the current corona wave. However, the offer of the fourth dose among older people has so far been accepted very hesitantly: so far only around 21 percent of people over 60 in Germany have opted for the second booster dose. Your family doctor can be the point of contact for first, second, third and fourth vaccinations. Mobile vaccination teams, company doctors, public health facilities, hospitals, vaccination centers and pharmacies can also vaccinate against Covid-19.
The German Foundation for Patient Protection advises older people to speak to their doctor before further vaccinations. “Because age is not the only decisive factor here. Rather, previous illnesses, individual risks and the immune status must be taken into account,” explained CEO Eugen Brysch. He also points out that nobody knows which virus variants will be predominant in autumn. Therefore, adapted vaccines are of great importance.
(This article was first published on Tuesday, July 12, 2022.)
