The chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, has called for the end of all corona measures for fully vaccinated people. “By September at the latest, a vaccination offer will be available for everyone who wants to be vaccinated, then almost all corona measures will have to go,” he said picture-Newspaper. “Everyone can still decide individually whether he or she wants to continue wearing a mask – but it should no longer be an obligation.”
The elimination of the measures is also important in order to uphold the vaccination morale of German citizens. “Some people will otherwise ask themselves: Why should I get vaccinated, maybe accept two days of headache or other side effects of the vaccination and do something for herd immunity if I have to continue to wear a mask just because 20 to 30 percent of people refuse” said alleys. (05.07.2021)
Esken: Urgently need vaccine for children
SPD leader Saskia Esken has called on the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) to reconsider its stance on the vaccination of young people. “We urgently need a vaccine for children, and I also hope that Stiko will soon reconsider its restricted vaccination recommendation for young people,” she told the Rheinische Post.
The Stiko has not yet issued a general vaccination recommendation for children and adolescents from 12 years of age. She recommends vaccinations only for 12 to 17 year olds with certain pre-existing conditions such as obesity, diabetes and chronic lung diseases. The committee justified its recommendation, among other things, by stating that the risk of severe Covid 19 disease for this age group is low.
After the young people had shown solidarity for more than a year, one can now expect the same consideration from the adults, so Esken further. “This includes, for example, that everyone continues to adhere to the hygiene rules and that major commercial events such as football with thousands of visitors and terrifyingly low hygiene discipline are not accepted, that returning travelers are consistently tested and, if necessary, quarantined and that the test discipline in the companies for not vaccinated will continue to be maintained. “
At the schools, the SPD leader advocated using only those staff who had recovered, tested daily or had been fully vaccinated, in classroom teaching and in other situations where close contact with young people could hardly be avoided. (05.07.2021)
Discussion of punishments for truants
Mario Czaja, President of the Berlin Red Cross (DRK), advocates asking for vaccination deadlines to pay. For example, if you let your appointment for the second vaccination in one of the vaccination centers pass without cancellation, you could be penalized with a fine of 25 to 30 euros, suggested Czaja in an interview with the RBB. This is partly common practice with general practitioners. Not to cancel for an appointment is “rather disaffecting those who want to have an appointment faster”. According to Czaja, five to ten percent of appointments are now missed.
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach also pleads in the Picture on sunday for appropriate penalties. “Because these missed appointments mean that we vaccinate more slowly than we could and that we have to throw away the vaccine.” The Union parliamentary group deputy in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei from the CDU, said letting vaccination dates expire is inconsiderate and a slap in the face of everyone who was still waiting for the vaccine. He also demanded: “Anyone who is too comfortable to pick up the phone or cancel an appointment with just a few clicks should have to pay for the downtime costs incurred.”
Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU), on the other hand, rejects the proposal to levy fines. “Solidarity is not enforced through penalties,” he told the editorial network Germany. The head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, was also skeptical. “Penance does not promote acceptance,” he said Picture on sunday. The health policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, said that threatening to pay a fine would rather deter people from vaccination. It is more about convincing those who are still undecided, for example with mobile vaccination teams and vaccination incentives.
New demands for lollipop tests and air filters for schools
In view of the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, the focus is already on the start of school after the summer holidays. Because numerous students will then still be unvaccinated, Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock is calling for massive investments to arm all schools against the virus. “An air filter system has to be provided for every classroom in this country,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Yes, that costs money. But I do not accept that we will find ourselves in a situation again where some of the children have to study from home just because no provision has been made.”
Virologist Melanie Brinkmann believes that every classroom across Germany has a tailor-made ventilation system after the holidays is an illusion. The professor from the Braunschweig Helmholtz Center for Infection Research is in favor of wearing masks and the increased use of so-called lollipop tests or gargle tests – instead of the less precise rapid antigen tests. “That saves costs and can be evaluated using PCR,” she explained to the editorial network in Germany. It is very effective when it is done regularly. Both test variants can also be taken in groups and evaluated at once; individual retesting is only necessary if the result is positive. “The Delta variant will rush through schools very quickly after the summer holidays if we don’t take precautions,” warned Brinkmann.
Bundestag President Schäuble against Corona Investigation Committee
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) thinks little of the proposals for a commission of inquiry or a committee of inquiry to deal with the corona policy. That would have to be decided by the next Bundestag, “but I make no secret of my skepticism,” said Schäuble, among others Stuttgart newspaper as well as the newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft. “We have to make a distinction between decisions made during the crisis and being right afterwards,” said the 78-year-old CDU politician.
Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) urges a parliamentary inquiry commission to deal with how possible future pandemics can be contained more quickly. The Federal FDP had announced a U-Committee, for example, the purchase of “unsuitable masks” would have to be screened by the Federal Ministry of Health.
Schäuble appealed for understanding: the new Bundestag should understand “that almost everyone who took responsibility in a difficult situation did their best. Perhaps that was not always good enough, but overall we are not in that bad position.”
The President of the Bundestag recalled two quotes: “Health Minister Jens Spahn said early on that we will have a lot to forgive each other.” And the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Social Affairs, Karl-Josef Laumann, said: “Anyone who doesn’t have the audit office on their ass after the crisis has done everything wrong.”
General practitioners complain 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 every four weeks. The health ministers of the federal states together with Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn recorded this 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 Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 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 provide protection for 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 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 still 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)