Coronavirus: Angela Merkel will be vaccinated with the first dose of AstraZeneca

BERLIN.- German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 66, to be vaccinated against coronavirus with first dose of AstraZeneca Friday, the daily Die Welt reported. In Germany, the Anglo-Swedish laboratory dose is not recommended for those under the age of 60, unless specifically recommended by a doctor for a specific patient.

Earlier this week, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Merkel would receive her first vaccine “soon”. Germany is experiencing the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which Merkel described this week as “perhaps the most difficult” to date.

Merkel’s vaccination – which she will do on a voluntary basis – will take place amid a wave of mistrust of vaccines from some laboratories, in particular AstraZeneca, which has been licensed and suspended twice due to side effects.

World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said today that the risk of suffering from a thrombotic event is “higher” if you have Covid-19 than if you receive the vaccine against the coronavirus developed by AstraZeneca or Janssen.

Kluge spoke thus during a press conference on the occasion of the rare cases of thrombi detected in people having received the AstraZeneca vaccine, and after the European Medicines Agency (EMA, for its acronym in English) has announced that it is “stepping up” its assessment of the possible relationship between Janssen’s Covid-19 vaccine and the “very rare” cases of low platelet count thrombi, from which it expects to issue a recommendation “next week “.

In addition, it comes after the United States on Tuesday recommended that the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine be suspended while six cases of thrombi are being examined in more than 6.8 million people who received the dose. Janssen also announced its decision to proactively delay the launch of the vaccine in Europe while investigations continue.

“WHO takes vaccine safety seriously and we will be offering advice soon. We urge states to report vaccine events. The risk of having a thrombus is higher if you have Covid-19 than if you are vaccinated with AstraZeneca. WHO recommends protecting yourself from Covid-19 the sooner the better, ”Kluge said.

As in many European countries, in Germany the third wave differs from the previous twoMost patients carry the more contagious British variant of the virus. And they are much younger, “most of them are between 40 and 60 years old,” says Thomas Marx, 42, medical director of the intensive care unit at Freising hospital in Bavaria. “You often have to intubate them and fight the disease for a long time,” he explains, adding that a quarter of them die.

“The situation is serious”, insisted Merkel herself Tuesday, justifying the decision of her government to claim more powers to fight against “the epidemic”.

ANSA and AFP agencies

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