Germany will begin offering booster doses of the coronavirus vaccine to high-risk individuals beginning next month.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a statement on Monday that the country will begin administering booster vaccines to older people and those with underlying health conditions starting in September.
"With the option of a booster vaccination in September, we want to provide the best possible protection for the groups particularly at risk in the fall and winter. Because for them, the risk of a decline in vaccination protection is the greatest," Spahn said.
The booster doses will be "one of the two mRNA vaccines," but the health ministry did not specify the specific vaccine. The current mRNA vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency are those developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
The ministry added that it does not matter which vaccine the individual had first received.
Spahn also announced that children 12 to 17 years old will also be allowed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine after meeting with and getting more information from their doctor.
"We are keeping our promise: Everyone who wants to can be vaccinated this summer. We have enough vaccines for all age groups," Spahn said.
Approximately 52% of Germans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and nearly 62% have received at least one shot, according to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's disease and control center.
The issue of booster vaccines has been widely discussed, especially as the highly transmissible delta variant causes COVID-19 cases to surge worldwide. Israel began administering booster doses to people 60 years and older last month. France is offering them to the eldery and at-risk. Health officials in Belgium and Italy say they are ready to administer the doses but are still deciding who gets them.
In the U.S., officials in the Biden administration increasingly believe that vulnerable populations will need booster doses.
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