Minister warns of third corona wave

Potsdam. Before the start of primary schools with alternating lessons this Monday, Brandenburg’s Minister of Health Ursula Nonnemacher (Greens) warned against further easing steps. It is now important to her that the cautious opening of schools and the transition to alternating lessons at elementary schools go well, the minister told the German Press Agency on Sunday. This must be accompanied by good hygiene concepts, tests and also a reassessment of the vaccination sequence with a view to educators and teachers at primary schools. “Beyond this easing step, I strongly advise caution.”

Despite a significant decrease in new corona infections in Brandenburg, according to Nonnemacher (Greens) there is no all-clear regarding the infection process. She referred to the “rapid” spread of the more contagious virus variants. “The proportion of more contagious virus mutants was put at 22 to 23 percent last week, and the trend is rising rapidly,” said Nonnemacher. “Even if we can now vaccinate larger proportions of the population than before, the danger of a third wave is very real.”

Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) recently campaigned for teachers and educators to receive a corona vaccination early. They are currently in the third priority group and will probably not receive a vaccination for a few months. In a letter, Woidke asked Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) to examine the extent to which the vaccination sequence could be adjusted, especially with a view to the Astrazeneca preparation.

At the weekend, there were also signs that primary school teachers and daycare workers could slide forward in the vaccination sequence. Baden-Württemberg’s head of department, Manne Lucha (Greens), announced that the health ministers of the federal states could make a corresponding decision on this Monday at a switching conference (4:00 p.m.).

From March, doctors in Brandenburg will be able to use a model project to carry out corona vaccinations in their practices or during home visits. The interest of the practices in the model project is “very great,” said Christian Wehry, spokesman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, KVBB, on Saturday. Around 500 practices have already registered that wanted to participate in the state government’s project.

According to the KVBB, the goal is to identify a total of around 50 practices across the country that want to participate in the project at short notice. The planned involvement of general practitioners in the corona vaccinations was a result of the Brandenburg “vaccination summit” on Wednesday. So far, the medical practices are not allowed to offer corona vaccinations. According to the KVBB, a survey of almost 1900 medical practices was started to inquire about vaccination capacities.

“We will test the vaccinations in some general practitioners’ practices,” said Health Minister Nonnemacher (Greens) of the “Lausitzer Rundschau” and the “Märkische Oderzeitung” (Saturday). On a larger scale, however, this can only work if sufficient vaccine is available. In addition, the federal government must change the vaccination ordinance for this, said the minister. The aim of politics is to make everyone a vaccination offer by the end of September. “That means 3.5 million vaccinations for Brandenburg. To do this, we have to administer 440,000 vaccinations per month in April and 520,000 vaccinations from May,” she calculated.

In order to achieve the goal, the vaccination centers would have to go “full load”, according to the minister. In addition, the mobile vaccination teams must be strengthened, the clinics are in demand, and so are the doctors in private practice. She rejected criticism of the country’s vaccination strategy in an interview with the two newspapers.

Since the problems with the overloaded vaccination hotline at the beginning of January, the entire vaccination campaign has been permanently put in a “bad light”. The term “vaccination chaos” was used. “It wasn’t chaotic. I reject that.” It was clear that vaccines would initially not be available in sufficient quantities. Nevertheless, enormous expectations were stoked, the minister said. In the meantime, the willingness to vaccinate in Brandenburg has increased week by week. In all federal states one has to struggle with problems. Nonnemacher: “It wasn’t any worse here than anywhere else.”

The number of corona vaccinations carried out in the country to date is a total of 154,624. 85,192 people received a first vaccination, 69,432 were vaccinated the second time. The value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week fell again slightly for the whole of Brandenburg on Sunday to 64.2.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210221-99-533510 / 3

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