Germany: Doctors' association suggests fourth booster

Germany's chief of doctors on Saturday said a fourth booster vaccination campaign would likely be needed later next year for the country to manage the pandemic. 

Ulrich Weigeldt, the head of Germany's general practitioners' association told newspaper Bild that he expected the boosters to mirror the yearly flu vaccine.

"We expect that by summer, or fall at the latest, a fourth vaccination will be necessary," Weigeldt said.

The country's vaccination campaign has been gradually picking up speed since it was restarted for booster shots to be administered. A fourth wave of COVID-19  has seen the highest-ever number of infections. 

Further complicating the picture is the emergence of the omicron variant, which is already in Germany. 

"We expect this mutation to slowly become the dominant variant by early next year it will slowly become the dominant variant," intensive care association DIVI President Gernot Marx, told the newspaper Passauer Neue Presse. 

Earlier this week, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said results from their initial study of the vaccine's efficacy against omicron showed that a third dose of vaccine was necessary for strong protection against the variant.

Fourth booster paired with flu vaccine

According to figures released Friday by the Robert Koch Institute for disease control (RKI), some 1.1 million Germans have received their third COVID-19 vaccine since the summer. At this point, some 20% of Germans are fully vaccinated with a booster.

Public health authorities are hoping this second-round booster campaign can pick up speed, as winter sets in, so that further restrictions and lockdown measures can be avoided.

Looking forward, Weigeldt told Bild he hoped that a third-round of vaccinations can take place in the fall "already in conjunction with flu vaccination," so that it can turn coronavirus protection into a routine medical matter.

Janosch Dahmen, member of the health committee in the Bundestag for the Greens, which is part of the governing coalition, told the newspaper Rheinische Post on Saturday that it was time to think long-term.

"We must now transition to a forward-looking pandemic policy," Dahmen said. "Boosting is effective and critical, as the current data show," he added, noting that Germany must consider moving up its booster vaccination round dates.

Edited by Richard Connor