Germany aims for voluntary vaccination in mid-2021
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Germany aims to achieve herd immunity against the new coronavirus thanks to a vaccine scheduled for mid-2021.
Without imposing it on a population traditionally reluctant to vaccination, the Health Minister said Tuesday. "Vaccination will be voluntary," Jens Spahn said in Berlin at a joint press conference with his research colleague Anja Karliczek.
To achieve herd immunity, which corresponds to the immunological protection of a country against an infectious agent, it will be necessary to vaccinate between 55 and 65% of the population, he said. "We are very confident that the goal of a high vaccination rate will be achieved voluntarily," he insisted.
Germans are often skeptical of vaccination and their opponents regularly demonstrate during "anti-corona" demonstrations. So much so that a debate has emerged about the relevance of imposing it on the country, which has weathered the pandemic much better than its European neighbors in particular.
A "safe and effective" vaccine
It will probably be necessary to wait until mid-2021 "before we come up with a vaccine and a large part of the population can be vaccinated," Ms Karliczek reiterated. An estimate that matches that of the World Health Organization. The country has budgeted around 750 million euros to promote the development of a vaccine and ensure production capacities.
As the vaccine race is in full swing around the world, where the pandemic has already claimed nearly a million lives, Spahn said speed was not the top priority. "It is not about being the first," she said, but about having a "safe and effective" vaccine after clinical trials based on several thousand people.
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