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J&J COVID vaccine is 'safe and effective'

April 23, 2021

Side effects in the newly approved Johnson & Johnson shot are very rare, says the head of Germany's vaccine regulator. But the health minister has dampened hopes of fast vaccinations for all from June.

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Vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine
The benefits of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine far outweigh the risksImage: Dado Ruvic/REUTERS

The risk of blood clotting in people who have received Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines is extremely low, especially for the over-60 age group, a top German health official said Friday.

The president of Germany's Paul Ehrlich Institute, Klaus Chichutek, said reports of health damage from AstraZeneca were very rare and even rarer in the case of the J&J inoculation. 

He said studies from the UK had shown AstraZeneca reduced COVID-related hospitalization in people who had had the first dose by 94%.

How far is Germany with its vaccinations?

But Health Minister Jens Spahn, speaking at the same press conference, was quick to refute media reports that vaccines would be available to all in Germany from June onward.

The fact that Germany would probably abandon its system of prioritizing certain groups in June "does not mean that we can give everyone an appointment within a week," he said. 

According to the minister, 22.2% of people in Germany have received a first dose of vaccine, while 7% had received both vaccinations needed for maximum protection from COVID-19. More than half a million people were being vaccinated each day, he said.

Spahn warned, however, that the third wave of the pandemic could not be broken by vaccines or testing alone and that restrictions on contacts and curfews continued to be necessary.

He called such measures a "very major infringement of liberty" but said they would be in place only temporarily before a process of opening occurred in summer. 

Queue in front of vaccination center in Greifswald, Germany
Many people in Germany are voluntarily taking the AstraZeneca vaccine even if they are below 60Image: Stefan Sauer/dpa/picture alliance

How dangerous is COVID to the young and healthy?

The call for social cohesion was echoed by the vice president of the Robert Koch Insitute, Germany's public health agency.

"These weeks are very hard for all of us; it is all the more important that we all stand together as a society," said Lars Schaade.

Schaade noted that new infections were growing above all in the 30-59 age group, most of who were not yet vaccinated. He warned that the coronavirus, though mostly less deadly, was "not harmless" to younger and healthy people, with recent studies showing that 10% of people who were infected showed symptoms of "long COVID."

Many people who have suffered even mild COVID-19 infections have been suffering from symptoms such as extreme fatigue, "brain fog" and breathing difficulties for months afterward.

Which vaccines has Europe approved?

The EU has so far approved the US-German BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine and the US-made Moderna and J&J vaccines.

Only people aged 60 and over are currently routinely receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine in Germany in light of the very rare reports of blood-clotting in some younger people who have received the jab.

tj/rt (Reuters, AFP)