live blog
Status: 02/03/2022 02:03 am
Perspectives are needed for the time after the omicron wave, which is why the German Medical Association and the German Hospital Society are calling for plans for opening steps. In Austria, compulsory vaccination will probably be decided today. All developments in the live blog.
2:03 a.m
STIKO is working on recommendation for fourth vaccination
According to its chairman Thomas Mertens, the Standing Vaccination Committee STIKO is preparing a recommendation for a fourth corona vaccination. Recent data from Israel suggested that a fourth dose brought “some improvement in protection against infection and a more significant improvement in protection against serious illness,” Mertens told the Funke media group’s newspapers. STIKO will soon make a recommendation on this. It is about a second booster vaccination with the existing mRNA vaccines.
“With regard to the vaccines that have been adapted to the omicron variant, the Commission must first wait for the data from the Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer clinical trials,” Mertens continued.
1:55 a.m
Austria: Vaccination is to come today
In all likelihood, a general obligation to vaccinate will come into force in Austria today. Formally, the Bundesrat, i.e. the chamber of the federal states, still has to approve the law, but that is considered certain. Then the corona vaccination obligation applies to all people in Austria who are 18 years of age or older. From mid-March there should be controls.
Until then, everyone has time to get immunized. According to this, complaints should be made against unvaccinated people without a special permit. There is a risk of a fine of up to 3,600 euros.
1:25 a.m
New Zealand wants to reopen borders
New Zealand will relax entry requirements from the end of February. Vaccinated New Zealanders staying in Australia can return home without quarantine from February 27, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. From all other countries, quarantine-free entry for vaccinated citizens is possible two weeks later.
Vaccinated backpackers, professionals and international students will be allowed into the country from March and will be able to self-isolate instead of being placed in government quarantine facilities. Tourists from Australia will be allowed entry from July and travelers from the rest of the world from October.
1:11 am
Demand for a phased plan for easing
The German Medical Association and the German Hospital Society (DKG) are calling for step-by-step plans for opening steps in corona policy. “If the infection process develops as epidemiologists predict, the number of cases will gradually decrease from the end of February,” says the President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, the editorial network Germany RND. “The federal and state governments should therefore be prepared and, if possible, prepare phased plans for openings, which can then hopefully be implemented soon.” The restrictions are still unavoidable.
The CEO of the German Hospital Society DKG, Gerald Gass, also tells the RND that now is not the right time to relax in view of the increasing number of patients in the hospitals. “But of course we need clear prospects for openings in the near future, once we get past the omicron wave.”
12:55 a.m
Wednesday’s live blog to read
The AfD was the first parliamentary group to submit an application for compulsory vaccination, but this has no prospects of success. Hesse wants to do it like Schleswig-Holstein and abolish the 2G rule in retail. Here you can read about the developments in the corona pandemic on Wednesday.