Albrecht Broemme, the former head of Germany's civil protection agency, spoke with reporters on Friday and revealed that while several vaccination sites are being set up in the German capital, some "intense conversations" need to occur regarding the centers, which are more vulnerable than hospitals.
“[W]ith the centers it’s indeed possible that people opposed to vaccination or others willing to use violence might say ‘Let’s set this on fire because we think vaccinations are stupid,’” he expressed, as reported by the Associated Press.
Markus Lammert, a spokesman for Germany’s Interior Ministry, told reporters in Berlin that he is "not aware of a concrete threat scenario" for such an event.
At the same time, officials "can't provide information about operational details and facts," Lammert added.
EU regulators with the EMA Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use are slated to finalize their review of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by December 29.
Likewise, the committee's review of a Moderna vaccine is scheduled for completion on January 12 at the latest.
Citing Thomas Mertens, head of the German Standing Committee on Vaccination, Deutsche Welle reported it will take until 2022 to vaccinate Germany's entire population against COVID-19.
"If you can administer shots on 150,000 to 200,000 people a day, so on five or six days a week – assuming vaccines are available and people are willing to be vaccinated – then you can calculate how long it will take," Mertens said.
"Then you would need 100 days to vaccinate 15 million people."
The UK was seemingly scolded by European regulators this week after the British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency moved to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for widespread use.
A spokesperson for the European Commission argued on Tuesday that the EMA's procedure was based on more evidence than Britain's and, therefore, “the most effective regulatory mechanism to grant all EU citizens’ access to a safe and effective vaccine."
Germany logged nearly 23,500 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 432 related deaths on Friday. At least 1,130,237 COVID-19 cases and 18,034 associated deaths have been logged in the country since the pandemic began, according to the Associated Press.
