A severe corona wave must be expected in autumn and winter, said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach after a two-day conference of federal and state health ministers. The heads of department want to meet again at the beginning of June to discuss specific protective measures in the fall.
A majority in Germany advocates wearing masks indoors during the cold season. 77 percent of those over 65 are in favor of it in the ARD Germany trend, and 48 percent of those aged 18 to 34. Mouth and nose protection practically only has to be worn on public transport at the moment.
What about the so-called citizen tests?
A lot of the German Corona policy is currently revolving around the free citizen tests, which will be discontinued at the end of this month. There is currently still a right to at least one quick test per week at test sites by trained personnel without a reason or symptoms. And it is not yet clear how things will continue from July. When it comes to financing, the federal states see the federal government as responsible.
Citizen test in Essen’s Grugahalle
–
A new vaccination campaign is scheduled for autumn. In current studies, there is increasing evidence that a fourth vaccination for people over the age of 60 is of great benefit, said Health Minister Lauterbach. The best vaccine should be made available to everyone who wants to be vaccinated.
Valneva is new, Novovax for people over the age of twelve
The EU medicines agency EMA has meanwhile approved the corona vaccine from the French-Austrian company Valneva. Valneva’s inactivated vaccine uses technology similar to classic flu vaccines, should be stored in normal refrigerators and can be used in people between the ages of 18 and 50. This means that six vaccines against the coronavirus are now available in the EU.
With the inactivated vaccine from Novavax, children from the age of 12 can now also be vaccinated
–
With the corona vaccine from the US manufacturer Novavax, children from the age of 12 can also be vaccinated in the future. The EMA experts have now recommended extending the approval. The vaccine is already approved in the EU for people over the age of 18 and, according to the studies, has an infection protection of around 80 percent.
20 million COVID deaths avoided
Researchers have calculated how many deaths were avoided by the corona vaccine. According to this, the vaccinations have prevented almost 20 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide in their first year alone.
Vaccination center in Kenya
–
This more than halved the number of deaths expected without vaccinations, researchers at London’s Imperial College write in the journal “Lancet Infectious Diseases”. But the unfair distribution of the vaccines is also reflected here, because the wealthier countries benefited significantly more than the poorer ones.
Infect yourself voluntarily? “Total nonsense!”
Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute for Virology at the Berlin Charité, warns against willfully becoming infected with the corona virus in summer. “One should continue to avoid this as much as possible, also because of the risk of Long Covid,” said Drosten in an interview with “Spiegel”. The recommendation for infection, which is currently making the rounds on Twitter, is also epidemiological: “Total nonsense”: “So many people cannot become infected in summer that this would keep the corona numbers low in winter.”
Christian Drosten at the federal press conference (archive photo)
–
Drosten fears that the number of cases will be very high again for September. Because, as expected, the BA.5 pathogen is now predominant in Germany. According to the weekly report by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on COVID-19, the proportion in a sample is 50 percent. However, the information relates to the week before last, and higher values can currently be assumed.
EU agrees on more cooperation
“The BA.5 variant is simply very transmissible, and at the same time people lose their transmission protection from the last vaccination,” warns Drosten. In other countries you can see that with very high case numbers, the number of hospitalizations and deaths rose again.
In health crises such as the corona pandemic, there will be much closer cooperation at EU level in the future. Negotiators from the EU states and the European Parliament agreed on increased cooperation across national borders. To this end, the EU Commission should be able for the first time to declare an EU-wide health emergency and thus trigger a coordinated approach, for example to the purchase and storage of important goods.
rb/mak (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
–
