At the federal press conference, Andreas Gassen, Chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Thomas Mertens, Chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) and Martin Scherer, President of the German Society for General Medicine and Family Medicine (DEGAM), talked about the current corona situation in Germany and the views for winter.
According to Andreas Gassen, 15 million people in Germany will have to receive a booster vaccination by the end of December. “That is feasible,” says Gassen. The medical practices in Germany are able to do this. However: “For this, the framework conditions have to be right.” It is not helpful if these are changed every few weeks by politics. The persons concerned would have to be written to in an orderly manner.
Stiko is reviewing recommendation for booster vaccinations for everyone
The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) wants to decide at short notice whether booster vaccinations against the coronavirus are recommended for everyone in Germany. We are currently checking very intensively, said Stiko chairman Thomas Mertens to the newspapers of the Funke media group. There are data from international studies that speak in favor of it, but it must be examined to what extent these results can be transferred to Germany. “A decision will be made in a few weeks,” said Mertens. With such a general recommendation for booster vaccinations, the decisive question is whether this can slow down the spread of the virus, said Mertens.
So far, the Stiko has recommended booster vaccinations for people aged 70 and over. However, the acting Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had pointed out that according to the vaccination ordinance, in principle all people were entitled to booster vaccinations. Medical representatives then criticized Spahn. As a result of Spahn’s statement, the need for information and discussion in the practices that set the vaccinations increased, said the general practitioner association.
“The current ‘free beer mood’ surprises me very much,” said Federal Chairman Ulrich Weigeldt of the newspaper world. “Open all vaccination centers, booster vaccinations without age restrictions – scientific and medical knowledge and the experiences of the past months are wiped off the table.”
He sees no reason why the medical practices that “finally ignited the vaccination turbo should not be able to provide the booster vaccinations – if no obstacles are put in their way,” said Weigeldt. The problem is currently not a lack of vaccination centers, but a low willingness to vaccinate: “However, those who are hesitant, insecure and especially those who oppose vaccination certainly do not walk into the vaccination center.” These people can be reached in the practices if they make an appointment because of other health problems, explained the head of the general practitioner association.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health, two thirds of the population in Germany are currently fully vaccinated against Corona. That’s 55.5 million people. Of the 24.1 million people who are over 60 years old, 85 percent are said to be fully vaccinated. According to these statistics, two million people have received a booster vaccination so far.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) surprisingly announced a slightly decreased seven-day incidence of 153.7 on Tuesday morning. The day before it was 154.8. The health authorities reported 10 813 new infections within 24 hours. In the days before, the incidence had risen sharply due to many infections. It is unclear whether the now lower value has something to do with reporting delays. Some federal states had a long weekend with All Saints’ Day. Experience has shown that fewer people can be tested on public holidays and fewer infections are often passed on from the health authorities to the RKI. (02/11/2021)
Charité warns of overloading the clinics
The nationwide rising corona numbers are leading to ever greater utilization of the hospitals. According to figures from the DIVI intensive care register, 2058 Covid 19 patients were in intensive care on Monday, an increase of 74 compared to the previous day. More than a thousand corona sufferers are currently being ventilated invasively.
In Berlin, the Charité warned of an overload: The number of patients has increased noticeably in the past few days, said Martin Kreis, board member for health care in Germany’s largest university clinic. “Currently about 90 percent of Covid-19 patients in the Charité are not vaccinated,” said Kreis. If it is not possible to increase the vaccination rate significantly and more and more infected people have to be treated as inpatients, this will lead to massive restrictions in the clinics. “If this development continues in line with the prognoses and no countermeasures are taken, there is a risk of a significant reduction in the supply of non-Covid-19 patients in the next few weeks,” explained Kreis.
In Berlin, the proportion of Covid patients to the available intensive care beds is still comparatively low at 11.4 percent. In individual districts such as Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg or the Bavarian Cham, more than 40 percent of the available intensive care beds are already occupied by corona sufferers. Most of the new hospital admissions per 100,000 inhabitants are currently in Thuringia, the state also has the highest 7-day incidence within Germany with 307.1.
According to Martin Kreis from the Charité, the situation in hospitals is exacerbated by the fact that there are significantly fewer intensive care beds available nationwide than a year ago. The main reason is a Germany-wide decline in intensive care staff. The existing intensive care beds are currently mainly occupied by people who are not sick with Corona. As a result, there are hardly any free beds available for Covid-19 care.
“We urgently need the introduction of retention quotas for intensive care beds again,” demanded the Charité board chairman Heyo K. Kroemer. This enables hospitals to reduce selected treatments and organize transfers between hospitals in a plannable manner. “Without the reintroduction of these quotas, it will not be possible to provide care for those suffering from Covid 19 in the coming weeks and months,” said Kroemer. (01.11.2021)
More than five million Covid-19 deaths
Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, more than five million people have died after being infected with the virus. That comes from data from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore on Monday. The threshold of four million corona deaths worldwide was exceeded at the beginning of July.
According to the data of the US researchers, the number of confirmed infections is now more than 246 million cases. Experts also assume a high number of unreported cases of infections and deaths around the globe.
The university’s website is regularly updated with incoming data and shows a slightly higher level than the official figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). In some cases the numbers have been revised downwards for a time. According to the WHO on Friday, there have been 4.98 million confirmed deaths and around 245 million known infections to date. (01.11.2021)
US President Biden’s spokeswoman infected with corona
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki contracted the coronavirus despite being vaccinated. She tested positive on Sunday, said Psaki in a written statement in the evening (local time). Psaki is currently not accompanying US President Joe Biden on his trip to Europe and, according to his own statements, last met her boss last Tuesday, under special protective measures.
Psaki had canceled her trip with Biden to the G20 summit in Rome and to the world climate conference in Glasgow last week at short notice and initially vaguely cited a “family emergency” as the reason. In her message from Sunday, she said that the background was that “a member of her household” had tested positive for the corona virus. She then went into quarantine and had herself tested on Wednesday and Thursday as well as on Friday and Saturday. All of these tests were negative. The test on Sunday was then positive.
Psaki said she has not met any senior White House officials since Wednesday. The most recent meeting with the president on Tuesday took place outside, with a distance and masks. You reveal your test result in order to provide the greatest possible transparency. Given her vaccination against the coronavirus, she only feels mild symptoms and can continue to work from home. She plans to return to the White House after a ten-day quarantine and a negative test result.
According to an insider, US President Joe Biden himself tested negative for the corona virus on Saturday. It was a PCR test. (10/31/2021)