German officials divided over teen vaccine plan

German Health Minister Jens Spahn has defended the decision to recommend vaccinations for 12 to 17-year-olds against the guidance of the national vaccine regulator STIKO on Tuesday.

The decision came during a meeting between the health ministers of Germany's 16 states.

The move to offer vaccines to all teenagers is in line with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). On the national level, however, it would go against the existing advisory guidelines set by Germany's STIKO, the country's standing committee on vaccination, which only recommends vaccinating teenagers with underlying issues.

What did the health ministers say?

The decision is "completely in line with STIKO," Spahn insisted in an interview with radio broadcaster RBB. He rejected the idea that offering jabs was a way to pressure people into taking the vaccine.

"Whoever wants to can get vaccinated, nobody has to. That's not a contradiction, we're in agreement with each other," the minister said.

He also pointed out that some 900,000 teenagers — around 20% of 12 to 17-year-olds — have already received at least one vaccine dose. He added that it was "quite probable" that unvaccinated people would get infected in the next months due to the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Karl-Josef Laumann, health minister for Germany's biggest state North Rhine-Westphalia, told WDR radio that his state will be offering vaccination appointments with specialist children and youth physicians who can give worried parents advice.

Who criticized the decision?

STIKO Chairman Thomas Mertens warned that the discussion over vaccines for teenagers would drain focus from the main issue of achieving herd immunity.

"I'm concerned that this is a proxy discussion which is taking away from the real problem. It is critical to fully vaccinate 18 to 59-year-olds with the abundantly available doses," he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

He believes that the vaccination of young people will have a marginal effect on the course of a fourth wave of infections. Mertens instead recommended rethinking of hygiene measures in schools.

"There will be no herd immunity in schools. Vaccine acceptance is too low for that," health expert and Social Democrat lawmaker Karl Lauterbach told the Redaktionsnetzwerk media group.

"According to estimates, 60% of young people will get vaccinated," he added. But this could go up if unvaccinated people are forced to go back into quarantine, he added.

The head of the Family Physicians Association, Ulrich Weigeldt, called the move by the ministers "election campaign bluster," saying that disregarding the STIKO guidelines may lead to uncertainty and undermine the vaccination drive.

ab/dj (AFP, KNA, Reuters, EPD, dpa)