For the first time in around eleven months, the corona incidence fell below 5. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide value on Saturday morning as 4.9 (previous day 5.0; previous week 5.9). Most recently, on July 30, 2020, the value was 4.8 below the 5 threshold. The health authorities in Germany also reported 671 new corona infections within one day, as can be seen from the numbers from the morning, which reflect the status of the RKI dashboard from 5:01 a.m. For comparison: a week ago 592 infections were registered.
According to this information, 16 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 68 dead. The RKI has counted 3,730,353 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not detected.
The RKI stated the number of those who had recovered at around 3,627,800. The number of people who died with or with the involvement of a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 91 023. (07/03/2021)
General practitioners complained of additional work due to cross vaccination
The general practitioners complain that they were surprised by the new recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) on cross-vaccination with mRNA vaccines. “The ad hoc adjustment of the recommendation caused enormous additional work in many practices on the first day,” says Ulrich Weigeldt, Federal Chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, the editorial network in Germany.
Patients are insecure, and many wanted to bring their vaccination appointments with an mRNA vaccine forward to the summer vacation. This poses enormous logistical challenges for doctors and practice teams from one day to the next, also because the mRNA vaccine is only available to a limited extent.
The vaccination commission surprisingly announced on Thursday that people who had received a first dose of the corona vaccine from Astra Zeneca should in future receive an mRNA vaccine like that from Biontech or Moderna as a second syringe, regardless of age.
Of course, it is the task of science to adapt recommendations to the current state of knowledge, said Weigeldt. “But that does not speak against clear communication and the early involvement of those who ultimately implement the recommendations. If we start to falter, so does the entire vaccination campaign.”
Health ministers support a different vaccination schedule at Astra Zeneca
In future, people who were vaccinated with the Astra Zeneca vaccine as the first dose should be able to receive an mRNA vaccine such as Biontech or Moderna as a second dose four weeks apart. This was recorded by the health ministers of the federal states together with Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn at a joint conference. The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) had recommended a so-called cross vaccination beforehand.
You have enough mRNA vaccine to implement the recommendation quickly, even if this is not immediately possible in every vaccination center, said Spahn. It is also good news that vaccination with Astra Zeneca will become more attractive through cross-vaccination, because with the second vaccination a full and very good vaccination protection could be established in four weeks. The period between two vaccinations with Astra Zeneca used to be nine to twelve weeks. The combination of Astra Zeneca and Biontech protect “at least as well as Biontech and Biontech,” said the Minister of Health. In some cases, the protection of cross-vaccination is even better.
Looking at the more dangerous Delta variant, Spahn emphasized that the second vaccination is very important in order to be well protected – with the exception of the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, which still only requires one vaccination.
However, Spahn said that the 2.5 million people who have received both their first and second vaccinations with Astra Zeneca so far have good protection. “These vaccinations were right, they were important and they protect the person vaccinated and those around them,” he said. 2.4 million vaccine doses from Astra Zeneca are to be delivered to the countries soon. About 30 million doses of the vaccine are expected this year.
A decision is expected soon on whether and for whom a booster vaccination is needed, said the Minister of Health. He assured that for everyone for whom a third vaccination was recommended after reviewing the data, sufficient vaccine would be available.
On the subject of vacation, Spahn said that recovery after this time was important. It is possible to go away on vacation, but it is important to be careful while on vacation and, for example, get tested.
As long as there is no mutation that affects the vaccination protection, lockdown measures for vaccinated people like last winter are not indicated, said Spahn when asked. There are currently no indications of such virus mutations. The incidence becomes less and less meaningful as the vaccination campaign progresses. A look at the UK also shows that vaccinations could make a difference. The question of how many people actually have to go to the intensive care unit after an infection or not because they are vaccinated is becoming more and more important, says Spahn. (07/02/2021)
For the first time, medical practices are getting sufficient corona vaccine
Germany’s medical practices are likely to receive the amount of corona vaccine they have ordered for the first time in the coming week. That said the chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, of the German Press Agency in Berlin. With around 2.3 million doses ordered nationwide, the practices would have requested fewer vaccines than were available. The practices still need sufficient vaccine.
For the coming week, the medical practices nationwide ordered around two million vaccination doses of Biontech – although they could have ordered 2.2 million. 325,000 cans were ordered from Astra Zeneca, 1.1 million would have been ready. Business Insider reported about it first.
Gassen said that since the start of the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, the contract doctors had regularly received significantly less vaccine than they needed. Now the holidays made themselves felt in more and more federal states. Many patients and doctors are on vacation. More and more people are also vaccinated. “Nevertheless, the rush in most medical practices is unbroken.” Many practices are still in the process of working through the long waiting lists. (07/02/2021)
Stiko: It’s still too early to recommend a refresher
The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Thomas Mertens, considers the data situation to be too thin for clear recommendations on booster vaccinations. “A solid answer still takes data, time and work,” says Mertens from Düsseldorf Rheinische Post (Friday edition) according to a preliminary report. Accordingly, a distinction must be made between so-called immune parameters, which can be determined in the laboratory, and the duration of protection of a vaccination. These indicators are not the same for everyone, but depend on the age and immune competence of the vaccinated person. “So far there have been few results on the immune parameters and we expect more and more in the summer,” said the Stiko boss. (07/02/2021)
Spahn: Delta will be the dominant variant in July
The delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) assumes that this month 70 to 80 percent of new infections will be due to this mutant. He said that on Thursday morning at a press conference. The variant is more contagious than other virus variants and has also caused the number of infections to rise sharply in countries with high vaccination rates such as Great Britain. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said that up to 60,000 people were allowed to enter the stadium for the European Football Championship matches.
It is expected that the mutant first discovered in India currently “accounts for at least half of all new infections,” writes the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in a report on Wednesday evening. Delta’s share of a sample from June 14th to 20th is estimated at around 37 percent. That is more than twice as much as the week before, when it was 17 percent.
It is important to maintain the vaccination rate, said Spahn. So far, two thirds of all adults in Germany have been vaccinated at least once. In general, 55 percent have now received a first vaccination, and 37.3 percent have been vaccinated twice. Spahn emphasized that only a full vaccination protects against Delta. (07/01/2021)
More controls on entry
Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer does not want to introduce any stationary corona controls at the borders in the summer months, but he wants to strengthen the controls at the airports and the monitoring of quarantine obligations by the health authorities. According to Seehofer, anyone who drives to Germany should be prepared for random checks in the border area. “Anyone who enters must expect to be checked,” said the CSU politician. Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) pointed out that, due to the lower number of infections, the health authorities now have more capacity to monitor the quarantine of returnees more closely.
No neighboring country of Germany is currently classified as a risk area. The random checks are, for example, on travelers who come by car from Turkey or Great Britain, said Seehofer. This happens as part of the so-called veil manhunt in the hinterland of the border. He will not allow himself to be pushed to stationary border controls by individual Prime Ministers, said Seehofer, and long traffic jams at the border crossings should be avoided.
The local health authorities find out that anyone who enters Germany now has to register digitally. If he comes from a country classified as a risk area, he must generally be in quarantine for ten days – at least until he presents a negative test. In the case of a high incidence area, he can only test himself free after five days at the earliest. When entering from a virus variant area, the quarantine even lasts 14 days; it cannot be shortened, and this also applies to those who have been vaccinated.
The virus variant areas currently also include Great Britain and Portugal – because of the more contagious Delta variant. But Spahn announced that both countries would soon be downgraded to high incidence areas. And then when the proportion of the delta variant is comparable to that in Germany, i.e. probably 70 to 80 percent. This point in time will “not be a long way off”. (07/01/2021)
Spahn should plan with more than 200 million vaccine doses for 2022
According to a media report, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) plans to procure 204 million corona vaccine doses for the coming year. “Thus a supply of a little more than two doses per inhabitant would be expected for Germany, including the safety reserve,” says a report by the Ministry of Health Handelsblatt should be available and was apparently presented in the cabinet on Wednesday.
According to the report, the doses are to be obtained in order to “secure additional amounts of vaccine in good time to protect against mutations and booster vaccinations.” Overall, the ministry expects costs of 3.9 billion euros in 2022. The funds are available for this.
Spahn wants to order from various vaccine manufacturers, Astra Zeneca and Curevac are apparently not among them. A second analysis of the Curevac active ingredient had recently again shown low effectiveness. It was 48 percent.
According to the report, Spahn plans with 84.4 million doses from Biontech / Pfizer. The EU had already signed a contract with the manufacturer for deliveries of up to 1.8 billion cans by 2023. In addition, 31.8 million doses of the mRNA vaccine from Moderna and 18.3 million doses of the vector vaccine from Johnson & Johnson will be ordered. A total of another 70 million cans are distributed among the substances from the manufacturers Sanofi, Novavax and Valneva. (07/01/2021)