Mr Mertens said on Friday Stiko would update its recommendation on the Oxford jab “very soon”, saying it was “possible” over-65s would be cleared to take it.
In an interview with German broadcaster ZDF, he defended Stiko’s initial ruling on the vaccine, and pointed to a lack of data available at the time.
He said: “We never criticised the vaccine, we just criticised the lack of data for the over-65 age group.”
But he then admitted the distinction between the vaccines efficacy and a lack of data was lost on the German public, and added: “The whole thing has somehow gone wrong.”