MedUni Vienna Professor Bergthaler warns: Omikron is not as harmless as we think. More action is needed.
A real Omikron wall is building up in front of us. Immediately after the Christmas holidays, the number of new infections rose steadily, skiing holidays and New Year’s Eve did the rest. The incidence in Salzburg has meanwhile reached 1,300 again, the Austrian average exceeded 600 on Sunday
Now, of all times, the children and young people are going back to school. One fears a downright contamination of the population, which could push the critical infrastructure to its limits. What’s next, where do we stand in this Omirkon wave?
In addition, Andreas Bergthaler, member of GECKO and Professor of Molecular Immunology at MedUni Vienna, was a guest at Margit Laufer’s “ZiB2 am Sonntag”.
Natural vaccination?
From a scientific point of view, there are currently two points of view. On the one hand, Omikron can be used as a “natural vaccination” for infection. According to Bergthaler, there is also a lot of evidence that Omikron is not as mild as we think. This also increasingly affects children and unanswered questions about Long Covid. In any case, the consensus is that the schools must remain open as long as possible.
“We have a lot of evidence that Omikron is not as mild as we would like it to be.”
The current problem is still that outside of Vienna there are only inadequate PCR test capacities. Sooner or later you will have to consider whether the validity period of 48 hours makes sense because the virus can spread even after a shorter period of time.
Amazingly good vaccination protection
What is now needed is a “pragmatic bouquet of measures” against Omikron. Although it is an escape mutant, boosted people are “amazingly well” protected against it – 70 to 88 percent against hospitalization, the molecular biologist specifies.
“We will not be able to prevent this wave.”
But that’s not a reason to relax. From his personal point of view – he is not speaking for GECKO here – “I think so Yes, that further measures are needed“. Not in the form of a lockdown, but above all where vulnerable people are affected, in order to flatten this wave.
Deltakron
When it comes to vaccination, people have leaned back a little lately in view of the compulsory vaccination. That has to change now. Most of all, Bergthaler wants clear, simple information to be sent to the population.
The mixture of delta and omicron – Deltakron – that appeared for the first time in Cyprus was an artifact at the end of the day. In other words: leading scientists and the WHO assume that this is not a new super variant.
