The incidence in Rhineland-Palatinate has been falling since the end of April. Above all, fewer and fewer older people are infected with the corona virus. “An effect of the vaccinations,” said the virologist Bodo Plachter.
Dozens of corona infections are still detected every day in Rhineland-Palatinate – but the numbers have fallen significantly. Above all, however, fewer older people are now infected, for whom the risk of a severe course of the disease is particularly high.
In January, 32.1 percent of those infected were over 60 years old, in May, according to preliminary data, only 12.9 percent. “That is definitely an effect of the vaccination,” says the Mainz virologist Bodo Plachter. “Vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic.”
Only 1.5 of those infected are between 80 and 89 years old
In the case of Rhineland-Palatinate people between the ages of 80 and 89, the data from the State Investigation Office clearly shows how the vaccinations, especially in the care facilities for the elderly, have contained the infections since the beginning of the year. In January, one in ten people infected (11.0 percent) was in this age group. In February it was only 5.8 percent, in March 3.2 percent, in April 2.2 percent and according to preliminary figures in May only 1.5 percent. As members of priority group 1, people over 80 years of age were vaccinated first.