Qatar - Germany misses 80% vaccination target by end of January
Date
1/31/2022 2:10:09 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AP
BERLIN - The German government is set to miss a target of giving at least one shot of coronavirus vaccine to 80% of the population by the end of January.
With one day to go before the end of the month, official statistics on Monday showed that 75.8% of Germany's 83 million residents have received at least one shot, 74% are fully vaccinated and 52.8% have also received a booster.
The target 'has been missed,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit acknowledged at a regular news conference. The vaccination rate is 'significantly better than it was before, but it isn't 80%.”
Causes include unwillingness to get vaccinated and 'perhaps also communication weaknesses,” Hebestreit said. He noted that the pace of vaccinations, which in December sometimes topped 1 million per day, slowed over Christmas and hasn't recovered as much as officials hoped. Over the past week, an average 351,000 shots per day were administered.
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While the number of people getting boosters has risen quickly, the proportion of the population getting a first shot has only crept higher in recent weeks.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany's 16 state governors decided a week ago to keep various restrictions in place in the face of rising infections, but not to expand them. Scholz also announced a new advertising campaign to encourage vaccination.
The health minister has said that a wave caused by the omicron variant is likely to peak in mid-to late February. 'At the moment, I would warn against thinking too early that it's over,” Hebestreit said.
German lawmakers last week debated a possible universal vaccination mandate, which Scholz supports but has left to parliament to design. It's unclear when any legislation will go to a vote, but it will be spring at least before any mandate comes into effect.
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