COVID-19 vaccination in Germany

COVID-19 vaccination in Germany

Map of Germany by state. Percentage of people getting fully vaccinated by population as of June 23, 2021.[1]
Date	26 December 2020 (2020-12-26) – present
Location	Germany
Cause	COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
Target	Full immunisation of people in Germany against COVID-19
Participants	55,869,314 people with one dose 52,503,166 people fully vaccinated (19 September 2021)
Website	Official Website

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Germany began on 26 December 2020.^[2] As of 16 December 2021, 60,679,186 people have received at least one dose (73 % of total population), while 58,174,724 people have been fully vaccinated (70 % of total population).^[3]

Vaccines on order[]

German vaccination certificate with evidence of two-dose of COVID-19 vaccination

There are several COVID-19 vaccines at various stages of development around the world. The ones listed as "pending" in the table below are under review by the European Medicines Agency as of 15 May 2021.^[4]

Vaccine	Approval	Deployment
Pfizer–BioNTech	21 December 2020	26 December 2020
Moderna	6 January 2021	12 January 2021
Oxford–AstraZeneca	29 January 2021	7 February 2021
Janssen	11 March 2021	5 May 2021
Novavax	20 December 2021	Pending
CoronaVac	Pending	Pending
Sputnik V	Pending	Pending
CureVac	Request withdrawn	No

The German Immunization Committee (STIKO) initially recommended jabs from AstraZeneca^[5] and Janssen only for patients ages 60 and above after reports of blood clot post-vaccination, but this was made available to everyone by the federal government on May 6, 2021^[6] and May 10, 2021,^[7] respectively. On November 10 of the same year, STIKO recommended jabs from Moderna's vaccine mRNA-1273 only to persons 30 years of age and older due to the increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis for young people, and the vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer was the only recommended vaccine for young people.^[8]

Doses delivered (cumulative)[]

Timeline of vaccination[]

COVID-19 vaccination center in Hall 4 of Cologne Trade Fair.

Priority groups[]

At the beginning of the vaccination campaign, the vaccine was planned to be distributed in four priority groups.^[9]

Vaccination group 1[]

The first priority group received their first vaccination on 26 December 2020. Everyone ages 80 and above, residents & caretakers of senior residents and high risk medical personnel are included in this group.

Vaccination group 2[]

This group consists of everyone ages 70 to 79, people with high risk preexisting conditions or down syndrome or psychologically impaired and their caretakers, caretakers of pregnant women, and other medical personnel not included in group 1.

Vaccination group 3[]

Group 3 consists of everyone ages 60 to 69, people with moderate preexisting conditions and their caretakers, employees of the government, shops, and vital infrastructure, and teachers.

Vaccination group 4[]

Everyone under the age of 60, but at least 16 years old, who are not included in the above vaccination group will be the last to get inoculation once most members of the top three priority groups receive their first dose. At a press conference on 26 April 2021, chancellor Angela Merkel promised to remove the prioritization by June,^[10] with Health Minister Jens Spahn later announcing its end on June 7, 2021.^[11] However, the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Berlin decided to enable this group to also get vaccinated through a doctor's office starting on 17 May 2021.^[12][13][14]

On 27 May 2021, chancellor Angela Merkel announced the extension of this priority to include children ages 12 to 15, on the condition that at least one existing vaccine is approved for use in this age range by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).^[15]

Slowing of vaccination campaign and government response[]

On 8 August 2021, it was reported that in response to a decreasing demand for vaccinations, in particular the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry would, starting from 16 August, distribute vaccines to the 16 states on the basis of reported demand, instead of the maximum feasible amounts. For the same reason, states projected in a survey by Die Welt that they would return over 2 million vaccine doses to the federal government. Development minister Gerd Müller told the newspaper that the amount of 30 million vaccine doses already promised should be increased in view of the situation, and that as the next step, the capacities for domestic production in poorer countries should be improved.^[16]

From 13 to 19 September, mobile vaccination centers were set up on public transport, mosques, and football fields as part of a campaign to increase the vaccination rate in the population.^[17]

Statistics[]

Vaccination figures were obtained from the RKI, updated every business day and correspond to progress on the previous day.^[18] Starting from April, inoculations can also be administered at a doctor's office alongside the existing vaccination center and mobile teams ^[19] and from 7 June at a company's physician office. A first dose is described as a person who received at least one COVID-19 vaccine doses, while a full dose stands for a person who completed the vaccination process with the prescribed doses.

Cumulative vaccinations[]

Vaccinations per day[]

Vaccination by federal state[]

First and second vaccination by federal state

Federal state	Vaccinated population			Percentage of population vaccinated
	first dose	full dose	booster dose	first dose	full dose	booster dose
Baden-Württemberg	7,573,673	7,374,131	924,137	68.2 %	66.4 %	8.3 %
Bavaria	9,002,287	8,735,431	1,335,733	68.5 %	66.5 %	10.2 %
Berlin	2,620,248	2,526.217	461,183	71.5 %	68.9 %	12.6 %
Brandenburg	1,626,073	1,567,530	206,972	64.2 %	61.9 %	8.2 %
Bremen	4,456,366	4,241,163	531,825	70.8 %	67.4 %	8.5 %
Hamburg	1,410,015	1,371,397	164,664	76.1 %	74.0 %	8.9 %
Hesse	4,456,366	4,241,163	531,825	70.8 %	67.4 %	8.5 %
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	1,110,893	1,074,521	146,095	69.0 %	66.7 %	9.1 %
Lower Saxony	5,856,585	5,613,878	748,550	73.2 %	70.1 %	9.4 %
North Rhine-Westphalia	13,447,374	12,838,448	1,850,983	75.0 %	71.6 %	10.3 %
Rhineland-Palatinate	2,957,266	2.786,767	374,723	72.2 %	68.0 %	9.1 %
Saarland	760,872	735,825	109,994	77.3 %	74.8 %	11.2 %
Saxony	2,445,570	2,351,886	303,958	60.3 %	58.0 %	7.5 %
Saxony-Anhalt	1,450,062	1,412,577	194,687	66.5 %	64.8 %	8.9 %
Schleswig-Holstein	2,187,755	2,113,758	306,800	75.2 %	72.6 %	10.5 %
Thuringia	1,356,545	1,320,893	230,964	64.0 %	62.3 %	10.9 %
Bundeswehr / German Federal Police	194,512	186,914	10,143	–	–	–
Germany	59,018,263	56,795,142	7,981,435	71.0 %	68.3 %	9.6 %
Total injected doses	120,376,028
As of 26 November 2021 per data from Robert Koch Institut.

Incidents[]

In August 2021, authorities in north Germany found that a nurse injected saline instead of vaccine, and had to ask more than 8,000 people to get repeat Covid vaccinations.^[20]

References[]