Corona-Impfpolitik-Perspektiven: Grundlagen, Probleme und Strategieoptionen (Vorabfassung)

In a broad view the question about the role of a corona vaccination policy is a global challenge - the world is facing a pandemic. There are problems concerning developing of vaccines and also issues with respect to production, logistics and distribution of approved vaccines. The question of prioritization of various groups normally will have to be decided at the national policy layer. As the first stage of vaccination will face a limited supply of vaccines availability in both industrialized and developing countries there will be a problem of "vaccination fairness"; a problem which will be the less serious the faster the overall vaccination implementation takes place. While there is no doubt that people above 80 years and medical personnel in OECD countries should be vaccinated with the highest priority one may debate about the further priorities with various arguments. In order to achieve an overall optimal vaccination success it is desirable to include at least 10% of the lowest priority group (age below 60 years) - possibly parents with many children - early on; this group below 60 years is the majority of the population in Germany and has a higher infection rate than the population average. This strategy would be important for social, epidemiological, economic and political reasons. It is technically possible to vaccinate 80 million people in Germany within 90 days provided the national vaccination plan is adequately designed. However, in Germany, the national vaccination plan of December 18, 2020, of government - following suggestions of the STIKO (Permanent Vaccination Commission) suggests that the lowest priority group 6 of STIKO would get vaccination only at the end of 2021. This is unfair and undermines vacation planning for summer 2021 and also makes new lockdowns more likely which in turn undermines the economic upswing in 2021; compared to an efficient 90 days national vaccination strategy.