Frankfurt: The critics called the German vaccine advisory panel to overhaul the way it evaluates Covid shots-19 as the nation struggles to tame soaring infection and as that posed by the chairman to question the safety of children inoculated.
18 people appointed panel known as Stiko last week recommending vaccination for the number of children is limited, including those at risk of developing severe Covid-19, but stopping a blanket recommendation for 5-11 years.
The limited approval, combined with stiko which takes weeks to fall in line with the regional health minister German expand eligibility for shooting booster from September, has sparked debate over whether a panel of experts needs to be reorganized to speed up the decision to compensate the decision of coronavirus.
In recent weeks, Germany has been among the worst countries in Western Europe, with rates of infection among school-age children are two times higher than the level of the age of all ages.
Critics say the standards demanded Stiko on the data analyzed, usually seen as a strength which has resulted in a strong reputation since it was founded in 1972 by the Ministry of Health, meaning it can be behind the curve in this pandemic.
“Works very Stiko based evidence.
That usually makes sense but at the time it was the reason why Stiko often falls behind the latest developments,” said Carsten Watzl, a professor at the University of Dortmund and the Secretary General of the German Society of Immunology.
Chairman Thomas Mertens Stiko also sparked criticism from the Association of pediatricians this month when he said in a newspaper interview, after the approval of the EU drug regulator, he will not get a seven year old child inoculated, if he had one.
Mertens dismissed as poor quality of data on adverse effects on millions of children younger vaccinated in the United States since the beginning of November, expressing concerns over the uncertainty of the risks of vaccination.
Medical Benefits In an interview on Thursday in one of Germany’s main evening news program, by broadcaster ZDF Heute Journal, the presenter asked if still appropriate for her to hold such a responsibility, after questioning him on pediatric warnings and booster vaccinations.
On Friday, Mertens told the broadcaster with the only mistake may have been mentioned personal views in public.
Body of infectious diseases Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, which is associated with Stiko, declined to comment on any of the criticism.
The European Medicines Agency approved the shots to children on 25 November.
It said on Thursday that no safety concerns over the more than 5 million US children who have received at least one shot.
The launch of the EU is held on Monday, although the countries pursue different strategies and Germans are not alone in spreading slower or more limited.
Spain, Italy, Austria and Denmark were among the countries that encourage older people to have all their fives inoculated.
STIKO has admitted that most of the 5-11 group will eventually be infected but have said that healthy children who are at low risk of severe disease.
Panel of German experts has been fixed in the remit to consider only medical benefits individuals and largely ignore the fallout from the closing of the school and also the role of children in passing the virus along with the others in a country where almost 20% of adults have never done the course two shots.
Watzl say this view is too narrow.
“STIKO should be supported at the start of a pandemic, a pandemic stiko if you want to.
It could be the same person appointed but with more resources and perhaps with a different set of considerations,” he told Reuters.
Stiko is high among the elderly and pediatric immunization campaign now means Germany for the youngest, also released on Monday, could set off to start muted.
“Recommendations wide by Stiko arguably has resulted in a greater willingness to be vaccinated among parents,” Leif Erik Sander, a leading vaccine researcher at Charite in Berlin, said the largest university hospitals in Germany.
“The latest decision, however, is likely to push the debate because of the recommendation in other countries more broadly.”