* Teachers to get priority access to Anglo-Swedish vaccine
* Health minister asks to give AstraZeneca to police, troops
* Some health workers baulk at AstraZeneca, leaving doses
unused
* Vaccine is safe, effective - government leaders
(Recasts with vaccination strategy shift)
By Andreas Rinke and Douglas Busvine
BERLIN, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The German government is
reworking its strategy to vaccinate the nation against COVID-19
as its campaign, which has faltered due to a lack of supply,
also faces public resistance to the shot from AstraZeneca Plc
.
As schools and kindergartens start to reopen from a lockdown
imposed in November, federal and state health ministers on
Monday reworked vaccination rules so that teachers will now get
priority access to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"Children, the young, and their parents are especially
affected by lockdown," they said in a document seen by Reuters.
"Since it can be hard to ensure social distancing with young
children, teachers must be protected in another way."
Health Minister Jens Spahn has also requested that the
AstraZeneca shot be given to the police force and army, after
some health and other frontline workers baulked at receiving it.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has met resistance in Germany and
other European countries after trials showed it to be less
effective than alternatives from Pfizer Inc and Moderna
Inc.
Anecdotal reports that the AstraZeneca vaccine causes
stronger side effects than other vaccines have been confirmed by
Germany's top vaccines agency, the Paul Ehrlich Institute.
It found that nearly a quarter of people receiving the
AstraZeneca shot experienced flu-like symptoms, and around 15%
experienced shivers or fever - more than side effects reported
from the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
German leaders have launched a public relations push to
reassure the public that the AstraZeneca shot, developed at
Britain's Oxford University, works.
"The vaccine from AstraZeneca is both safe and highly
effective," Steffen Seibert, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief
spokesman, tweeted on Monday. "The vaccine can save lives."
AstraZeneca says that the reported side effects are in line
with observations from its clinical trials. The Paul Ehrlich
Institute has called the vaccine highly effective and described
reactions to it as short-lived.
SLOW GOING
Germany has administered 5 million vaccine doses so far, or
around six for every 100 residents, putting it well behind
countries like Israel, Britain or the United States that have
more aggressive campaigns.
Most are of the Pfizer vaccine, which was developed by
Germany's BioNTech, have been given so far to the
elderly and infirm.
Of the 1.5 million AstraZeneca shots due to have been
delivered by the end of last week, only 187,000 have been used
so far, according to figures from the health ministry and Robert
Koch Institute for infectious diseases.
With the AstraZeneca vaccine only approved for people of
working age, Spahn has asked that the German army be mobilized
to administer it to state workers like police and soldiers, news
weekly Spiegel reported.
Asked to comment on the report, Spahn's ministry confirmed
it had asked the army for help in setting up two vaccination
centres in Bonn and Berlin for state employees in uniform.
Although Germany, like other European Union member states,
had got off to a slow start, latest government figures indicate
that it will take delivery of at least 10 million further doses
by March 4.
Spahn wants to start administering vaccines at family
doctors' practices as soon as 3 million to 5 million doses are
delivered weekly, he told a meeting of leaders of Merkel's
conservative party earlier according to sources present.
That would help ease potential bottlenecks at the regional
vaccination centres that have been set up by Germany's 16
federal states.
While coronavirus cases have fallen in recent weeks, the
rate of decline has slowed with the seven-day incidence rate
hovering at around 60 cases per 100,000. On Monday, Germany
reported 4,369 new infections and 62 further deaths.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt
Writing by Caroline Copley and Douglas Busvine
Editing by Riham Alkousaa, Paul Carrel and Richard Chang)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
