麻豆传媒

A German doctor who estimated that he injected 20,000 people with his home-brewed COVID-19 vaccine is under investigation by state authorities there.

On Sunday, authorities busted up an unauthorized vaccine clinic at the Lübeck airport run by Winfried Stöcker, MD. Prosecutors in Lübeck brought charges the next day, . Stöcker also owns the airport.

German prosecutors said they're also investigating three other doctors involved in the scheme.

Some 50 people had already received the vaccine by the time authorities arrived on Sunday, the Irish Times reported, and about 200 more were in line waiting for their shots.

Stöcker has claimed that his shot is 97% effective against COVID-19. He announced that he developed it in May 2020, and claimed it was a more "traditional" inactivated virus vaccine, according to the Irish Times. The paper said that he had tested the shot on himself and about 100 volunteers before giving it out more widely.

Stöcker told German news tabloid Bild that he has tracked 2,000 people and saw no side effects to date. Only 10 people have developed breakthrough COVID infections, he said.

He told the tabloid that he didn't submit his vaccine for regulatory approval because it would "take too long and cost millions."

The vaccine is dubbed "Lubecavax" and is a three-dose series, according to information on Stöcker's website reviewed by the Irish Times.

"In our view the 'Lübeck vaccine' is safe, effective and presumably the most suitable vaccine for children," the doctor wrote in a blog post, cited by the Irish Times. "Doctors have the right to mix together compounds that they believe will help people."

Wolfgang Kubicki, a lawyer representing Stöcker, said his client wasn't present at the airport vaccine clinic and didn't administer any vaccines, according to the Irish Times. Kubicki is also a leading member of Germany's Free Democratic Party, which is part of the country's new coalition government.

It's not clear whether patients at the airport vaccine clinic knew they were being given an unauthorized vaccine.

A more "traditional" vaccine may be appealing in Germany, where vaccine hesitancy runs high, particularly after concerns about blood clotting following the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this year.

Only about 68% of Germans are fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data, a project involving the University of Oxford.

Meanwhile, Germany has faced its highest caseloads of the entire pandemic in the last few weeks, currently facing a 7-day average of daily new cases of 68,680, according to Johns Hopkins data.

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