Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants the fourth vaccination against the corona virus for people over 60 – and refers to findings from Israel. An immunologist disagrees.
The fourth corona vaccination suggested by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) for people over 60 years of age is not supported by immunologists.
“A general lowering of the age threshold for the vaccination recommendation is currently not indicated,” said the Vice President of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI), Reinhold Förster from the Hannover Medical School, the German Press Agency. In exceptional cases, a second booster could also be understandable from the age of 60, for example in people with a suppressed immune system.
In Germany, the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) currently recommends the fourth dose for people aged 70 and over and for people with risk factors such as immune defects. Lauterbach recently campaigned several times for lowering the age threshold to 60 years. In this age group, mortality could be reduced by another 80 percent compared to the third dose, he said, citing findings from Israel.
Data from Israel
This data was published a few days ago as a preprint, so it has not yet been checked by external experts. Despite the new data, according to Förster, the DGfI is currently of the opinion that three immunization steps are sufficient to build up long-lasting protection against Covid-19: ideally three vaccine doses. Or through two vaccinations and – if unavoidable – an infection.
The Israeli data showed minimal differences between the compared two groups of three and four times vaccinated, said Förster. “Both groups have a very low risk of death from Covid-19 at Omikron.” The information on reduced mortality was therefore based on relatively small absolute numbers. An example: According to Preprint, five of the approximately 112,000 quadruple vaccinated and 32 of the approximately 124,000 triple vaccinated 60- to 69-year-olds died in connection with Covid-19 in the observed period.
Which virus variant is next?
According to Förster, the results have some limitations. “The question is to what extent the two groups are comparable. Some previously vaccinated people who were previously vaccinated may not have made it to the fourth vaccination, which could partly explain the differences in mortality. » The study also points out that the recorded cause of death Covid-19 in hospitals can also include cases in which the positive test result is an incidental finding.
The reluctance to recommend a fourth vaccination is also due to the fact that it is currently completely unclear which virus variant will prevail in a few months, which vaccines will then be available and what that in turn means for the vaccination recommendations for winter, said the immunologist. “With the third vaccination, the data was different than now, the benefit against the delta and omicron variants was clearly proven.”
Source: Stern
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