Germany will allow anyone 18 and older to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Germany’s health minister said that the country would allow anyone 18 and older to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, removing restrictions that limited access to older people and those in certain professions, as the government tries to encourage more people to get vaccinated ahead of the summer.

Doctors should also be allowed to give the two doses quicker than the current standard of 12 weeks between jabs, Jens Spahn, the health minister, said at a news conference on Thursday, emphasizing the need to “exercise more pragmatic flexibility.” He expects that children 12 years and older could start getting vaccinated as early as August.

Germany has wavered on whether people of all ages should get AstraZeneca. Even though the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization have continued to say that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks, there are reports that supplies of AstraZeneca doses are going unused in Germany as citizens seek other manufacturers.

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