Of course, everyone who has been vaccinated against Covid-19 knows that there is no one hundred percent protection against infection. And yet you feel safe. However, as the number of vaccinations increases, so does the number of vaccination breakthroughs. According to the latest weekly report from the Robert Koch Institute, almost 215,000 vaccination breakthroughs have been registered across Germany since the vaccination campaign began – i.e. infections including corona symptoms despite a full vaccination. How do these people experience the loss of security they believed to be and what lessons do they learn from it? Four examples as a plea for vaccination, boosting and testing.
Sven P., 27 years old, medical student from the district:
Sven P. received his first Astra Zeneca injection in February, and the second a few weeks later. As a medical student, the 27-year-old worked regularly in the hospital, and he also took smears at a test station. Last Monday he started his practical year in a clinic, and on the same day he got the booster injection with the vaccine from Biontech. What he did not know at the time: The previous weekend he had contracted the coronavirus, “the booster was a few weeks late”. The day after the vaccination, Sven P. felt bad, he explained the cold symptoms as a reaction to the vaccination. The rapid test in the clinic was negative. On the second day the cough and sore throat got worse – but it was not until the third day that a PCR test, which Sven P. also did, worked. By then he was already sick in bed. “I’m really sick, just totally exhausted,” he says on the phone. When he’s vacuumed his small apartment, he’s done. His family provides him with groceries, which they put in front of his door. In the shared apartment in Munich, he infected an unvaccinated roommate – the two vaccinated roommates stayed healthy. “Their vaccinations were not that long ago,” explains Sven P. He advises booster vaccinations – in the order in which they were vaccinated at the beginning of the year.
Stephanie Tetzner, 54 years old, riding therapist in Starnberg:
Riding therapist Stephanie Tetzner was also hit “hard”.
(Photo: Franz Xaver Fuchs)
Stephanie Tetzner was also vaccinated for the first time in February, and has since received the Biontech vaccine twice. “I work with handicapped and seriously ill children, that was my duty.” Four weeks ago she went to her family doctor for advice on a booster vaccination. “The doctor said she would want to clarify a few more open questions.” Five days later, Stephanie Tetzner was positive, she tests herself regularly. The course was “violent”. “I had everything except a loss of taste.” Fever, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of smell. It took four and a half days before she got better. That was four weeks ago, and she ended her quarantine two weeks ago. She is still slow and refrained from exercising, her doctor advised her to do so. “I am very grateful that I was vaccinated,” says the therapist. “I would not have wanted Corona worse.”
Roy von der Locht, 57 years old, independent entrepreneur from Berg: You have been to the cinema with friends or at dinner, always 3G-compliant and at a distance. “I really don’t know where I got infected,” says Roy von der Locht. At least four weeks ago he suddenly got a headache and had a “big head”. The first corona rapid test was positive, the second as well. So he moved into the bedroom and his wife into the guest room, she’ll stay healthy. The entrepreneur, however, has a hard time. Extreme body aches and pains, night sweats, fever, sore throat, loss of smell. “I only tasted salty, sweet and sour – nothing more.” In March, the 57-year-old was vaccinated against Covid-19 for the first time. He wanted to be boosted soon, an antibody test shortly before his infection had only documented a low level of vaccination protection.
Roy von der Locht still has to take medication after his Covid illness.
(Photo: Franz Xaver Fuchs)
Now the values are top again, “also because of the difficult course”. But von der Locht is still not quite fit. His condition is weak, he still needs a cortisone spray every day, and he still takes cough syrup. He doesn’t understand that so little is tested. “After all, it is not new that people who have been vaccinated can also transmit the virus.”
Patrizia L, 23 years old, student from the district:
At the beginning of August Patrizia L. received her second Biontech vaccination. She wanted to start her semester abroad in Hungary as safely as possible and without major restrictions. Since the end of August she has been studying at the Business School in Budapest, where she lives in a shared apartment with four other young people. Four are vaccinated, one unvaccinated. When a vaccinated roommate falls ill, everyone thinks of a common cold. “It never occurred to us that it could be Corona,” recalls the student. A week later, she too gets sick.
When she can no longer smell and taste, it dawns on her and she does a quick test. Except for one roommate, all of them become infected. Patrizia L. says she was quite tired and had an extremely strong cough. But it hit the unvaccinated roommate worse. “Of course I thought it wouldn’t get me,” says Patrizia L. Ultimately, however, she was “just glad I was vaccinated”.