German panel recommends booster for recipients of 4 vaccines

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s independent vaccination advisory panel is recommending a booster shot with a messenger RNA vaccine for people who have had a full course of four Chinese, Indian and Russian COVID-19 vaccines that aren’t currently approved for use in the European Union. In a draft recommendation Thursday, the panel, known by its German acronym STIKO, said the advice applies to people given a full course and also a booster of the Chinese Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines, the Indian-made Covaxin and Russia’s Sputnik V. It said that the new booster shot should be administered at least three months after the previous vaccination. The German panel said that people who have received only a single shot should start a new vaccination series.