This official announcement of the Standing Committee on Vaccination, known as STIKO, comes this Thursday (11.18.2021) amid a record rise in coronavirus infections in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, and during debates and votes in Parliament to decide new urgent measures.
This committee also said that it recommends booster vaccines administered with an mRNA preparation, which should be applied six months after the last vaccination dose of the basic, two-dose, or single-dose schedule, depending on the vaccination of the which is.
A vaccination interval of five months, instead of six, can also be considered in individual cases, if there is sufficient capacity to deliver the vaccines, STIKO added.
In the last 24 hours, more than 65,000 new infections were registered throughout the country. Health officials warn that the country is facing a “very bad Christmas.”
Lothar Wieler, director of the Robert Koch Institute, shows the figures for infections in Germany. (11.18.2021).
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Actual figures, “higher” than reported
At the same time, Lothar Wieler, the director of Germany’s leading epidemiology body, the Robert Koch Institute, warned that the number of infections could actually be much higher.
Wieler said he believes there were “double or triple” as many cases a day that were actually reported.
“The underreporting of actual numbers is increasing,” Wieler said during an online discussion Thursday with Michael Kretschmer, the prime minister of the state of Saxony, which is now the epicenter of the pandemic in Germany.
“We are in an emergency. Whoever refuses to see that is making a big mistake.”
Grim forecast for Christmas in Germany
With a grim prognosis for the next few days, Wieler urged political leaders to take swift action to curb new infections. “We will really have a very bad Christmas if we do not take countermeasures now,” he warned.
He also expressed disappointment at the pace of policy on COVID-19. “It is simply no longer tolerable that what I, and many other colleagues, have been saying for 21 months, may not yet be recognized.”
The health official called for contact restrictions, club and bar closures, and the introduction of “2G” rules across the country, referring to the abbreviation in Germany for a rule that allows freedoms such as access to restaurants and hotels only to those who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19.
Germany’s acting Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz address the Bundestag session on measures to curb the pandemic. (11.18.2021).
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Merkel meets with heads of state government
Wieler made the remarks as Chancellor Angela Merkel was preparing to meet with the 16 presiding ministers of the federal states to discuss the implementation of measures at the national level, in an attempt to avoid the unequal restrictions that have been implemented by state and municipal governments. in all the country.
CP (dpa, rtr)
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