Shortly before school starts, the North Rhine-Westphalian Greens are calling for daily corona tests for schoolchildren. “If you want to guarantee classroom teaching, you really have to make the school a safer place. The preparations are still inadequate,” said Sigrid Beer, the education spokeswoman for the Greens in the state parliament. In view of the high risk of infection from the Delta variant and due to the number of people returning to school, tests once or twice a week were not enough to minimize the risks, especially at the start of school this Wednesday.
“Of course, vaccination is first and foremost the way out of the pandemic,” said the leader of the Greens in the state parliament, Josefine Paul. Outreach and unconventional vaccination and education offers at schools and youth centers, at best for the whole family, are therefore important. At the same time, Paul appealed to everyone else to get immunized: “The adults are now responsible for building a protective cocoon around the younger ones,” she said, referring in particular to the children under the age of twelve, for whom there is no approved vaccine . In addition, more should be relied on the more reliable PCR lollipop tests, which so far have only been used in special schools and primary schools.
The parliamentary group leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, also quickly calls for “easily accessible schoolyard vaccination offers”, which should also be open to the children’s parents. Education and the information campaign should now also keep pace. “That is why we need explanations that are easy to understand, even for older young people themselves.” (08/16/2021)
Stiko speaks out in favor of corona vaccination from the age of twelve
The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) is in favor of corona vaccinations for all children and adolescents who are at least twelve years old. After careful evaluation of new scientific observations and data, one comes to the conclusion that “according to the current state of knowledge, the advantages of vaccination outweigh the risk of very rare vaccine side effects”, announced the committee and relied on a draft resolution. The official recommendation text is not yet available. Changes are still possible in a coordination process with the federal states and specialist groups.
“This recommendation is primarily aimed at the direct protection of vaccinated children and adolescents from Covid-19 and the associated psychosocial consequences,” explained the Stiko. The vaccination should continue to be carried out after medical advice on the benefits and risks. They speak out “expressly against making a vaccination a prerequisite for social participation in children and adolescents”.
The basis for the new assessment is in particular data from the American vaccination program with almost ten million vaccinated children and adolescents. Stiko boss Thomas Mertens justified the previous reluctance with insufficient data on the safety of vaccination in adolescents. The main focus was on the possible consequences of myocardial inflammation in vaccinated people. Very rare heart muscle inflammation, which is more likely to be observed in young male vaccinated persons, is rated as a side effect, but the Stiko writes of mostly uncomplicated courses. She also points to studies from abroad, according to which, conversely, heart diseases could also occur with Covid-19.
At the end of May, the European Medicines Agency approved the first Covid-19 vaccine for twelve to 15-year-olds with the preparation from Biontech and Pfizer. In July, the agency also released the Moderna vaccine for adolescents, which previously could only be used from the age of 18. In the past few weeks, politicians have repeatedly asked Stiko to reconsider its cautious stance. The committee had so far recommended the vaccination primarily to those children and adolescents who have previous illnesses such as obesity or chronic lung diseases or to children and adolescents with a particular corona risk in the vicinity.
Even without a general recommendation, vaccinations have already been possible for healthy people in the age group – “after medical advice and with individual wishes and risk acceptance”. According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Monday, 24.3 percent of twelve to 17-year-olds have been vaccinated against corona at least once and 15.1 percent have been completely vaccinated. At the beginning of August, the federal and state health ministers had already agreed on broader offers for children from the age of twelve – for corona protection when starting school after the summer holidays. (08/16/2021)
Spahn and Lauterbach welcome the new Stiko assessment
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn described the updated recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission on vaccinating adolescents as “good news” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/. “Parents and young people have a clear recommendation to decide in favor of the vaccination” said the CDU politician. “The facts speak for the vaccination, there is enough vaccine for all age groups.” If desired, a vaccination can take place this week.
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach, who, like other politicians, had been pushing for a corresponding recommendation for some time, also welcomed the Stiko’s decision. “We can be grateful that we have an independent body like Stiko,” he said Süddeutsche Zeitung. The decision was “made from the perspective of the individual children”. These should not become instruments for establishing herd immunity with the Delta variant. (08/16/2021)
Far-reaching easing in Baden-Württemberg
A new Corona regulation with far-reaching relaxations for people who have been vaccinated and recovered from the virus came into force this Monday in Baden-Württemberg. Those who belong to one of these two groups enjoy greater freedom in many areas regardless of local or regional corona incidences. Unvaccinated and non-convalescents, on the other hand, now have to present negative rapid antigen tests much more frequently than before, and each of these must not be older than 24 hours. This applies, for example, to visits to museums, hotels, fitness studios, exhibitions, the hairdresser’s and indoor restaurants.
Children who have not yet started school are exempt from the test requirement. According to government information, students do not have to show any separate tests, provided they are already subject to regular corona testing in their schools.
A rapid antigen test is not sufficient for unvaccinated and unrecovered guests of clubs and discos; instead, a negative PCR test must be carried out in advance, which must be a maximum of 48 hours old when entering and is comparatively expensive.
Previous contact restrictions and regulations for private events and celebrations will be lifted. Elsewhere – also for vaccinated and convalescent people – the mask requirement remains. It applies to local transport, retail, hotels and most non-private events, at least indoors. (08/16/2021)
Incidence value rises to 36.2
The seven-day incidence continues to rise. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Monday morning, it was 36.2 – the previous day the value was 35.0, a week ago 23.1. The health authorities in Germany reported 2126 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. This is based on figures from Monday morning, which reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:30 a.m. A week ago, the value for Germany was 1183 infections.
According to the new information, four deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. There had been two deaths a week ago. The RKI has counted 3,823,139 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 3,682,000. The number of people who died with or with a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 91,871. (08/16/2021)
Survey: Vaccination quota for adults could rise to more than 80 percent
According to a survey, the proportion of adults fully vaccinated against Corona in Germany could rise to more than 80 percent. In the representative survey conducted by the Yougov opinion research institute on behalf of the German Press Agency, 75 percent of the 2106 participants said they had already been vaccinated at least once. Another six percent said that they still want to be vaccinated – together that’s 81 percent. In May, this rate was only 74 percent in a comparable survey. Shortly before the start of the vaccination campaign in December 2020, only 65 percent had decided to vaccinate.
In the current survey, only 13 percent said they did not want to be vaccinated – in May it was 15 percent. Six percent have not yet made a decision.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) said last Monday that she hoped for a vaccination rate “well over 70 percent and up to 80 percent”. But she related that to the total population. No vaccine is yet approved for children under the age of twelve. The Standing Vaccination Commission has not yet issued a general vaccination recommendation for children and adolescents between the ages of twelve and 17. According to official figures, 63.1 percent of the total population has been vaccinated at least once. (08/15/2021)