Find out what you should know about Corona vaccination at Avi Medical practices and where to get more up-to-date scientific information.
Effective and safe vaccination can help to limit the spread of Corona and subsequently ease contact restrictions. First, however, a large part of the population must have developed immunity to the virus. Vaccination builds crucial protection, population immunity, and thus greatly reduces the risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
The injections are made exclusively in the upper arm muscle. A very fine injection needle is used for this. If you are taking blood-thinning medication, the injection site will be compressed for at least 2 minutes after the vaccination. Allergies will also be asked about during the vaccination information. If you have an allergy passport, please bring it with you to the vaccination.
You should - if possible - not receive any other vaccination 14 days before the start and after the end of the vaccination series. Emergency vaccinations are excluded from this.
After the vaccination, a follow-up period of at least 15 minutes is recommended.
For a complete immunisation with the mRNA vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna and the vector-based vaccine from AstraZeneca, you need two vaccine doses. A second vaccine dose must be administered - depending on the manufacturer - at a certain interval to complete the vaccination series.
The Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommends the following vaccination interval:
- mRNA vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer (Comirnaty®) and Moderna: 3 weeks
- vector-based vaccine from AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria®): 6 weeks
With the vector-based vaccine from Johnson&Johnson (Janssen®), on the other hand, a single vaccination is sufficient.
If the recommended maximum interval between your 1st and 2nd vaccine doses has been exceeded, your vaccination series can still be continued and does not need to be restarted.
An exception are persons under 60 years of age who have already received a vaccination with Vaxzevria® from AstraZeneca. Here, the STIKO currently recommends that the 2nd vaccination be carried out 12 weeks after the 1st vaccination with an mRNA vaccine (Comirnaty®) from BioNTech/Pfizer or COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna®).
If a SARS-CoV-2 infection is detected in your laboratory after the 1st vaccine dose (positive PCR test), you can receive the 2nd vaccine dose at the earliest 6 months after you have recovered or after an appropriate diagnosis has been made.
Good to know: The STIKO continuously reviews all the vaccines we use and those that are about to be approved. We closely follow the newly adapting vaccination recommendation and inform you accordingly.
Four vaccines from different manufacturers against the coronavirus are currently licensed in the European Union: mRNA vaccines from the companies BioNTech and Moderna and vector vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson.
Protective effect of the mRNA vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna.
The probability of contracting COVID-19 after an infection is reduced by around 95 percent if you are vaccinated. It is still unclear when exactly this protection begins. The first vaccination only offers partial protection. Studies have shown that full protection is available 7 days (BioNTech) or 14 days (Moderna) after the second vaccination. If you fall ill despite the vaccination, you can expect the disease to be less severe.
Protective effect of the vector-based vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson.
The probability of contracting COVID-19 was up to 80 % (Vaxzevria®) and about 65 % (COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen®) lower in those vaccinated against COVID-19 than in those not vaccinated. The effectiveness in preventing severe COVID-19 disease (i.e. hospitalisation, for example) was even higher: about 95% for Vaxzevria® and about 100% for COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen®.
This means: If you are vaccinated with this Corona vaccine and come into contact with the pathogen, you will most likely not fall ill.
Here you can find a lot more information from the STIKO.
This is how the mRNA vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna work.
The vaccines from BioNTech and Moderna belong to the newer mRNA vaccines that are genetically engineered. mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) is the "blueprint" for every single protein in the human body. mRNA vaccines against Corona contain the "blueprint" for only one part of the virus: the spike protein on the outer shell. This protein is not infectious, so it does not transmit the disease.
The mRNA contained in the vaccine breaks down your body in a few days, so it does not get into the human genome, the DNA. The muscle cells around the vaccination site multiply the spike protein. Your immune system recognises it as a foreign body, activates defence cells and produces antibodies and defence cells against the coronavirus spike protein. Should you become infected with the coronavirus, your body recognises the spike protein again and fights it.
This is how the vector-based vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson work .
Vector vaccines such as those from AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson are based on a different principle than mRNA vaccines, but also rely on genetic engineering. Vector vaccines against other diseases have already been approved. The vaccines consist of so-called vector viruses. The vector virus in question is a well-studied virus that cannot reproduce in your body. They are not live vaccines. The vector virus contains and carries the genetic information for a single protein of the coronavirus, called the spike protein. The COVID-19 vector vaccines do not contain any vaccine viruses that can reproduce, i.e. vaccinated persons cannot transmit vaccine viruses to other persons.
The information transported by the vector virus is not incorporated into the human genome after vaccination, but is "read" after entry into the cells (especially in muscle cells at the vaccination site and in certain defence cells), whereupon these cells then produce the spike protein themselves. The spike protein cannot by itself cause SARS-CoV-2 infection. The spike proteins thus produced by the body of the vaccinated person are recognised by the immune system as foreign proteins; as a result, antibodies and defence cells are produced against the spike protein of the virus. The spike protein triggers the same process as in the mRNA vaccines and thus leads to vaccination protection.
The transport substance, the vector virus, cannot multiply in their body and is degraded in a short time. Then no more virus protein (spike protein) is produced.
In our Avi Medical practices, children and adolescents from 12 years of age can be vaccinated. Please note, however, that on 10 June 2021 the STIKO pronounced COVID-19 vaccination for children and adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age only for certain indications (pre-existing diseases with increased risk of severe COVID-19; vulnerable persons without sufficient immune protection in their personal environment; occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2) and otherwise pointed out the possibility of vaccination after individual information and risk-benefit assessment.
In Bavaria, general practitioners and specialists have been allowed to vaccinate against the coronavirus since 20 May, regardless of the vaccination order (prioritisation) .
Based on the current data situation, STIKO recommends vaccination with the vector-based AstraZeneca vaccine as a rule only for people aged 60 years and older, since in this age group the risk-benefit analysis is still clearly in favour of vaccination due to the increasing lethality of COVID-19 disease. However, the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine below this age limit remains possible at the physician's discretion and with individual risk acceptance after careful explanation.
Corona booster vaccinations are also now available in our practices! Please note that at least 3 months must have passed since the first vaccination series. The vaccinations are especially aimed at patients with immunodeficiency or immunosuppression and the very elderly over 70 years of age.
Most commonly, the stimulation of your body's defences may cause redness or swelling at the injection site, which may also hurt.
Your body may also react with general reactions such as fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain or chills/fever. However, these symptoms will subside a few days after the vaccination. We will be happy to advise you in one of our Avi Medical practices about possible vaccination reactions and side effects and how best to behave if they occur.
In advance, you can find more information about the side effects of the individual vaccines here:
STIKOinformation leaflet on COVID-19 vaccination with mRNA vaccine
Fact sheet for COVID-19 vaccination with vector vaccine
