The demand for corona vaccinations is picking up again due to the new vaccines adapted to the omicron virus variant. “The new option to order the BA.1 vaccine has led to orders six times higher than in the previous weeks,” said the head of the North Rhine pharmacists’ association, Thomas Preis, of the “Rheinische Post”. However, demand is being slowed down by the fact that there is still no recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) for the new preparations.
“So far, there hasn’t been a big run on the vaccine in medical practices and pharmacies,” said Preis. He also attributed this to the lack of a Stiko recommendation. This will probably comment on the vaccines from Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna that have been adapted to the Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.5 this Tuesday.
The head of the pharmacists’ association also criticized the fact that there is still no digital certificate for the new vaccines. “Until now, doctors and pharmacists have often given citizens the vaccination certificate as a QR code. For technical reasons, this is not yet possible with a vaccination with the new vaccines BA.1 and BA.4/5,” said Preis.
These vaccines are not yet entered in the IT mask due to the lack of EU specifications. Therefore, citizens would have to “later have the manual entry from the yellow vaccination book added as a certificate, for example in pharmacies”. The new vaccine adapted to the BA.4/5 variant should be available in doctor’s offices and vaccination centers next week.
