So far, almost 31,000 people in Germany have contracted Covid-19 despite being completely vaccinated. This emerges from the latest management report from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Since February 1, 30,880 so-called vaccination breakthroughs – i.e. symptomatic corona infections at least two weeks after a full vaccination – have been registered. The RKI nevertheless rates the effectiveness of the vaccination as high: in adults it is between 86 and 87 percent, depending on the age group.
According to the RKI, the inadequate vaccination rates among younger adults are also reflected in Germany’s intensive care units. From mid-August to the beginning of September there were more 18- to 59-year-olds among the patients cared for there than people over 60. This could be interpreted as an effect of the vaccination campaign and the so far insufficiently high rates among 18- to 59-year-olds. The proportion of Covid patients is growing again in the intensive care units. Currently there are almost 1400 people nationwide, an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous week. (09/09/2021)
Biden wants government employees to be vaccinated
US President Joe Biden reportedly wants to make vaccination compulsory for government employees. The broadcaster CNN and the report Washington Post citing insiders. The possibility of exempting yourself from compulsory vaccination through regular corona tests should therefore be eliminated. The regulation should also apply to companies that work for the government. Recently, Biden had repeatedly advertised compulsory corona vaccination in companies and urged employers to act.
The US vaccination campaign is making very slow progress. So far, 53.3 percent of the approximately 330 million inhabitants there have been fully vaccinated. The vaccinations are approved for adolescents from the age of twelve and adults, in this population group the vaccination rate is 62.4 percent. (09.09.2021)
The number of corona patients in hospitals continues to rise
The number of corona patients in Germany’s clinics is increasing. On Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 606 new admissions within one day. The so-called hospitalization incidence rose from 1.79 to 1.89 – this value describes the number of Covid 19 patients who came to the hospital within the past seven days, converted to 100,000 inhabitants.
In the new Infection Protection Act, this value is decisive for dealing with the pandemic and has replaced the seven-day incidence of new infections. However, there are no uniform limit or threshold values from which measures must be taken – this is a matter for the federal states to determine. For comparison: At the height of the corona pandemic around Christmas, the incidence of hospitalizations was temporarily more than 15.
The number of corona cases in the intensive care units has recently increased: by 40 to currently 1388, as reported by the RKI. They thus make up 6.1 percent of all usable intensive care beds in Germany.
According to the RKI, the seven-day incidence of new corona infections in Germany is currently 83.5, on Wednesday it was 82.7. In fact, that means hardly any change in the situation: after a continuous increase over weeks, the incidence value has fluctuated around 83 since last weekend. (09.09.2021)
Contact tracking can hardly be guaranteed
The health authorities in Germany can currently no longer track all contact persons of infected people. “With a high number of people who tested positive without a simultaneous lockdown, people often have so many contacts that a basic and extensive follow-up is no longer possible,” said the chairman of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service (BVÖGD), Ute Teichert , the Rheinische Post.
When the number of infections in Germany was low this summer, many offices significantly reduced their follow-up teams. In July, the nationwide seven-day incidence was at times only five, but has now risen to more than 80 within a few weeks.
Many health authorities are currently reaching their limits in terms of personnel, said Teichert. It is difficult to attract specialists and especially doctors because they earn significantly less in health departments than in hospitals. (09/09/2021)
Quarantine compensation costs the countries a lot of money, and some want to cancel their claim
In addition to tracking, the tasks of the health authorities also include deciding which contact persons have to go into quarantine in the event of a corona case. If this leads to a loss of earnings for employees, they are entitled to compensation under the Infection Protection Act. This has been expensive for the federal states in the past year and a half: since the pandemic began, they have paid at least 600 million euros in compensation for loss of earnings due to quarantine. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia alone spent 120 million euros.
Some countries want to cancel the compensation claim for unvaccinated people in the future. The regulation in the Infection Protection Act provides that the claim can be waived if the quarantine could have been avoided by vaccination. Baden-Württemberg therefore does not want to pay any more compensation for unvaccinated people from September 15th. Until then, everyone would have had the chance of a corona vaccination, it is said to justify.
The Ministry of Health in Rhineland-Palatinate wants to proceed in the same way from October 1st, reports the Evangelical Press Service. From Hessen it was said that non-vaccinated people would have to expect that applications for compensation for quarantine loss of earnings will be rejected in the future; however, a specific point in time was not given. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) thinks the decisions of the federal states are fundamentally correct. After all, it is the taxpayers who finance the compensation, he said in Berlin. He does not see “why others should pay in the long run if someone does not opt for the free vaccination even though he could,” he added.
Berlin, on the other hand, is sticking to the compensation. There one considers the condition – that a quarantine is avoided by vaccination – as not fulfilled. Quarantine obligations could currently also apply to vaccinated persons, for example if symptoms are present or if people are in contact with people infected with virus variants, said a spokesman for the Berlin Senate Department for Finance. Bavaria also wants to decide on compensation in each individual case in order to take into account those who may not be covered by the vaccination recommendation. (09/09/2021)
Chile plans to vaccinate children from the age of six soon
In Chile, children from the age of six will be vaccinated against the corona virus in the future. The vaccination campaign for children between the ages of six and eleven will start on Monday next week, said Health Minister Enrique Paris on Wednesday during a visit to the city of Arica in the north of the country. The children are to be vaccinated with the Coronavac vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac. Earlier this week, the Public Health Institute gave the vaccine emergency approval for children six years and older.
Chile is one of the countries with the highest proportion of vaccinated people in the population. More than 86 percent of Chileans are already fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Chinese vaccine Coronavac was mainly used in the vaccination campaign in Chile.
On Monday, Cuba became the first country in Latin America to start vaccinating children between the ages of two and eleven against the coronavirus. The preparation Soberana 02 developed there is used on the socialist Caribbean island. Cuba has a lot of experience in vaccine development, but the study results on the Cuban vaccines have not yet been independently verified. (09/09/2021)
Medical Association President Montgomery for tightened corona measures
In the fight against the fourth wave of pandemics, the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, has spoken out in favor of tightening corona measures. It will hardly be enough to increase the vaccination rate through mobile offers. “To break the fourth wave before it gets dramatic, a 2-G rule should now be introduced nationwide wherever possible,” Montgomery told the Funke media group. Only those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered would then have access. Where it would not be practical to exclude unvaccinated people, such as in local public transport, at least a stricter 3-G rule would have to apply. “Unvaccinated people would then have to show a current PCR test. A simple rapid test should no longer be sufficient,” said Montgomery. Such an extended 2-G rule could be the necessary incentive to get vaccinated. (09/09/2021)
Clinics for uniform rules for assessing the corona situation
The CEO of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß, has spoken out in favor of a uniform definition of critical brands for assessing the corona situation, which can be regionally adjusted. “We should define nationwide threshold values for the three central factors – the incidence of infection, the incidence of hospitalization and the occupancy of intensive care capacities -” said Gaß to the editorial network in Germany. “The threshold value then depends on the regional characteristics, such as hospital capacities, vaccination quota and the like.”
The Bundestag decided to change the Infection Protection Act on Tuesday. According to this, the federal states should in future be able to largely determine locally when stricter everyday restrictions will be necessary. The “essential benchmark” for measures to be taken should be the number of corona patients admitted to the clinics per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. However, “other indicators” should also be taken into account. The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, available intensive capacities and the number of people vaccinated are given. The countries should then be able to determine where critical threshold values lie. (09/09/2021)