Photographer: Fabrizio Bensch / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Fabrizio Bensch / AFP / Getty Images
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany will step up its Covid-19 vaccination effort, trying to recover after a temporary shutdown. AstraZeneca Plc’s blow due to concerns about blood clots.
While Europe is facing a resurgence of the virus from France to the Czech Republic, Merkel presented a perspective on overcoming the crisis, while signaling that Germany may have to withdraw some of its previous relaxation. Three available vaccines and the expected arrival of a Johnson & Johnson shot will help, she said.
“Starting in April, we want to become 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 complete the German proverbial meticulously with increased flexibility.”
Like many of his European colleagues, Merkel faces challenges on several fronts. For the time being, it is caught between the European Union’s vaccination troubles, the public’s dissatisfaction with its response to the pandemic and the resurgence of cases after Germany eased the blocking restrictions. Support for his ruling party bloc fell to its lowest level in a year in a poll this week.
On Monday, Merkel and state leaders will discuss whether restrictions in Europe’s largest economy should be extended to April or even tightened, rather than eased, as the government suggested earlier this month. Covid-19 cases in Germany rose the most on Thursday in two months.
“We see an exponential increase” in cases, Merkel said on Friday. “Unfortunately we will have to use the emergency brake.”
There and back
Countries across Europe have suspended and re-established the use of the Astra vaccine
Source: Bloomberg
Europe’s effort to speed up its Covid-19 vaccination campaign faces the challenge of restoring public confidence after a chaotic week of vaccine suspensions, health scares and threats to ban exports.
EU officials are trying to look ahead in the second quarter, when vaccine deliveries are expected to end quickly. On Thursday, the EU drug regulator made everything clear for the AstraZeneca shooting after reports linked it to blood clots in a small number of patients.
“Every time you launch such a vaccine for millions and millions of people, there will be events and other events that will happen in parallel in the process,” World Health Organization Adviser Bruce Aylward told reporters on Friday.
“What people are generally looking for is for them to be assessed correctly so that their trust can be assured,” he said.
Merkel addressed the issue of public confidence in vaccines on Friday, saying she was ready to take the AstraZeneca blow.
Sputnik option
Russia’s Sputnik vaccine is also an option if approved by the European Medicines Agency, Merkel said. Although a joint European order from Russia would be preferable, “we should go the German route alone,” if necessary, she said.
While the slowdown in infections in Germany reversed in March, the country still has fewer cases per capita than countries such as Italy and France, where a four-week renewed blockade began in Paris and other regions on Friday.
Health Minister Jens Spahn, who is facing opposition calls for resignation, said earlier on Friday that Germany was in a “third wave” of Covid-19, with a large number of cases of variant viruses.
“We have some pretty challenging weeks ahead of us,” he said.
Measures to increase Germany’s immunization level include allowing German doctors’ offices to start AstraZeneca vaccines on April 6, Merkel said. In general, the plan calls for the gradual expansion of vaccination options to include doctors as well as existing vaccination centers.
“The slogan is: vaccinated, vaccinated, vaccinated,” Merkel said.
– With the assistance of Corinne Gretler
(Updates with Merkel’s comments on the increase in Covid cases in the sixth paragraph.)