More than half of the people in Germany are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) announced on Wednesday in the short message service Twitter that 50.2 percent of citizens had received full protection. That is 41.8 million people.
In addition, 50.85 million are vaccinated at least once, which corresponds to a share of 61.1 percent. 512,481 vaccine doses were administered in Germany on Tuesday.
Full vaccination protection is considered important because of the particularly contagious Delta variant. Because of the mutant now dominating in Germany, experts consider a vaccination quota of more than 85 percent of the population to be necessary.
Spahn again appealed to people to get vaccinated. „The more you can get vaccinated now, the safer autumn and winter will be“, wrote the Minister of Health with a view to the increasing number of infections and concerns about a fourth corona wave in autumn.
Vaccination speed varies in federal states
The rate of vaccination continues to differ between the federal states. At the top stands Bremen with 70.1 percent of residents vaccinated at least once. Bremen is also clearly ahead of the fully vaccinated with 58.3 percent. At the bottom of the list for the first vaccinations remains Saxony (51.8 percent), also among the fully vaccinated (46.1 percent).
The Saxon Ministry of Social Affairs sees a mixture of causes for the low vaccination rate. For some, the currently low number of cases and the associated carelessness would play a role, it said on request. A vaccination is thought to be postponed to the time after the summer vacation.
For many, the lack of mandatory testing due to the low incidence is likely to play a role. “The relevance of rapid vaccination – which, in addition to protecting against severe disease, also frees you from the obligation to test – may be pushed into the background.”
In the case of the front runner Bremen, Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) said: “A lot of people are involved in the high vaccination rate.” He referred to medical practices, company doctors, aid organizations and the commitment of business.
The vaccination centers worked smoothly, and in call centers most of the callers were put through directly and did not end up on hold. “Word gets around in Bremen and Bremerhaven. With such a positive mood, the willingness to vaccinate also grows, ”said Bovenschulte.
The nationwide seven-day incidence in Germany rose to 15 on Wednesday. As the Robert Koch Institute announced, citing information from the health authorities, 2768 new infections and 21 further deaths related to Covid-19 were registered within 24 hours. A week ago the incidence was 11.4 and the number of new infections was 2203.
The deputy spokeswoman for the federal government, Ulrike Demmer, said in Berlin that the current situation was cause for concern despite the still low incidence. The number of cases increased, the R-factor was constantly above one. This means „that we have to think about how to deal with it as soon as possible“. The entire federal government is working at full speed to find solutions. (dpa, AFP)
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