Chancellor Merkel urges Germans to get coronavirus vaccinations

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Thursday to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus.

Her plea came during a news conference after visiting German vaccine maker BioNTech’s production facilities in Marburg.

“In the past, we had too little supply, but now we’re in an exceptional situation, we now have sufficient vaccines,” said Merkel. And she thanked Turkish-German scientists Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, cofounders of BioNTech, for their achievements.

“Vaccination is very important in view of the recent increase in the number of infections,” she said.

Germany administered more than 500,000 daily doses in May and June but the number of people coming forward to be immunized for the first time has dropped below 150,000 per day in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the highly contagious Delta variant is causing a surge in new infections, especially among teens and young adults.

- More than 8,000 daily cases

Health authorities reported 8,400 new cases on Thursday, the second straight day new infections surpassed the 8,000 mark.

The number of active cases increased to 61,500, up from 55,900 on Wednesday, the highest figure in the current fourth wave of infections.

Despite a surge because of the Delta variant, hospitalizations and deaths have remained relatively low, compared to previous waves.

The Robert Koch Institute confirmed 22 deaths related to the virus in the last 24 hours and 338 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals.

Currently, 621 patients are receiving treatment in intensive care units, with 293 on mechanical ventilators.

The Delta variant accounts for nearly 98% of all new cases in Germany, but progress in vaccinations is believed to have contained cases of severe illness and hospitalizations.

As of Wednesday, 52.9 million people in Germany, 63.7% of the population, have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 48.4 million people, 58.2% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

The government’s goal is to vaccinate 70% of the adult population by the end of September.