Germans pin hopes on Novavax moving the needle among anti-vaxxers

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators protest against government measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Berlin, Germany, January 24, 2022. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Benedikt Richter, a 40-year-old teacher in the southwest German city of Kaiserslautern, long held out against getting vaccinated against COVID-19. He felt uneasy about the novelty of the mRNA technology used in two of the most commonly administered shots.

It did not help that his sister-in-law was hospitalised with heart muscle inflammation a day after receiving her second shot, which doctors officially linked to her vaccine, Richter said. Regulators have acknowledged such conditions as a rare and mostly mild side-effect.