The Prime Ministers of the federal states want to discuss the Corona crisis with the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the likely future Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) this Tuesday. In the telephone vote scheduled for 1 p.m., the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the so-called federal emergency brake should be discussed, reports several media unanimously.
The Karlsruhe judges want to comment on the exit and contact restrictions and school closings under the Corona federal emergency brake on Tuesday morning. The emergency brake had to be pulled automatically across the country if the so-called seven-day incidence exceeded 100 for several days.
The planned traffic light coalition recently said that the Karlsruhe decisions should be awaited before a possible tightening of the Corona course. The pressure to act is growing due to the constantly growing number of infections and the new Omikron variant. In addition, a crisis team is to be set up in the Chancellery to accelerate the vaccination campaign. This should start “as soon as possible”
Hendrik Wüst, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, insists on a quick decision. “Uniform standards for significant reductions in contact, the preparation of a general vaccination requirement, the provision of economic aid for possible further restrictions and the establishment of the new crisis team at the federal government – the federal and state governments urgently need to discuss all of this together,” demanded Wüst. He is also the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference. (29.11.2021)
Biontech is working on a vaccine adaptation against the virus variant Omikron
The vaccine manufacturer Biontech is working on the development of a customized vaccine. This is done in addition to ongoing laboratory tests to examine the new Corona variant Omikron and is a preventative measure in the event that an adapted vaccine could become necessary.
“In order not to waste time, we are tackling these two tasks in parallel until the data are available and we have more information on whether the vaccine should be adjusted or not,” said Biontech.
Biontech announced on Friday that the new variant differs significantly from the previously observed variants because it has additional mutations on the spike protein. The data from the laboratory tests that are now ongoing will soon provide information on whether an adaptation of the vaccine will be necessary if this variant spreads internationally.
The company expected findings by the end of next week at the latest. Together with the US partner Pfizer, preparations were made months ago to adapt the vaccine within six weeks in the event of a so-called escape variant of the virus and to deliver the first batches within 100 days, Biontech said. Clinical studies with variant-specific vaccines have been started to collect data on safety and tolerability. In the event of an adjustment, these could be presented to the authorities as sample data.
An escape variant is a virus variant which at least partially eludes the effect of the currently available vaccines. A vaccine based on the messenger molecule mRNA like the one from Biontech or Moderna can be produced more quickly than conventional vaccines, since only the blueprint has to be produced, not the antigen itself.
Meanwhile, Moderna announced that the company could have a customized vaccine ready by early 2022 if necessary (11/29/2021).
Drosten is “quite concerned” about the Omikron virus variant
The Berlin virologist Christian Drosten is worried about the new Omikron variant of the corona virus. “I’m pretty worried at the moment,” said Drosten in the ZDF “Today Journal”. You don’t know too much about the new variant. Reports of mild courses did not have a lot of substance given just over 1,000 registered cases. Here you have to wait for the clinical course.
But you can see that Omikron often appears in young people in South Africa and also affects people who have already had an illness. He is worried that the first real “immune escape mutant” is in front of him. It is also unclear how the variant behaves in this country, where many people are vaccinated. “Nobody can say at the moment what’s in store for us. The only thing that you can really say with certainty is: It’s better when you’re vaccinated. It’s even better when you’re boosted,” said Drosten. The available vaccines would probably protect against a serious course of the disease.
Drosten also spoke of a “somewhat imponderable situation” with a view to 2-G or 3-G rules in Germany. You have no experience with it in a winter wave. Hardly anyone can model the situation. Drosten advised politicians to pay close attention to the stricter rules, for example in the hotspots of Saxony, Bavaria and Austria. Here you can slowly see the first effects. Drosten referred, for example, to a declining R-value in Bavaria towards 1. The R-value indicates how many people an infected person infects on average – and thus how quickly a virus spreads. But you have to get to 0.7 in order to foreseeably reduce the number of cases so that it leads to relaxation in intensive care units.
Drosten also rated the positive news that the proportion of infected people who have to be ventilated is declining. This shows that booster vaccinations are slowly taking effect. But the process is slow. People would continue to come to the intensive care unit. “And that’s terrible,” said Drosten. (29.11.2021)
Incidence continues to rise to 452.4
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 29 364 new infections within 24 hours. That’s 1279 fewer cases than on Monday a week ago when 30,643 were reported. The seven-day incidence continues to rise to 452.4 from 446.7 the previous day. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 population have contracted the coronavirus in the past seven days. 73 other people died related to the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 100,956 within one day. In total, more than 5.79 million corona tests have so far been positive in Germany. (29.11.2021)