DAccording 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 marked improvement in protection against serious illness,” Mertens told Funke media group newspapers (Thursday). The 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 clinical studies by Moderna and Biontech/Pfizer,” Mertens continued. In Israel, hundreds of thousands have already received a fourth vaccination. After people over 60, the immunocompromised and medical staff, they can now be used by all adults with previous illnesses.
Green health expert Janosch Dahmen said: “A fourth vaccination with the previous vaccines probably makes sense if the immune response after three vaccinations is too weak, for example in old and seriously ill people.”
All developments in the live ticker:
7.25 a.m. – Over 352,000 new infections and 3700 more deaths in the USA
In the USA, the omicron mutant, which has been dominant for some time, continues to spread. The health authorities report at least 352,309 new infections within 24 hours. This is a Reuters count based on official data. The day before there were almost 302,000 proven cases of infection. A total of 75.64 million cases of infection have been registered since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of deaths related to the virus rises by at least 3,701 to 897,383. The USA has the highest number of infections and deaths in the world.
5:55 a.m. – Police are investigating wearing “unvaccinated” stars
The police in Saxony-Anhalt are taking action against opponents of the corona measures who wear a yellow star with the word “unvaccinated”. From mid-June 2020 to the end of January of this year, five investigations into hate speech were initiated due to the public wearing of so-called “unvaccinated” stars, the Ministry of the Interior announced.
A procedure was opened because of the visible wearing of such a star in a leisure facility in Halle, another because of showing it at the Christmas market in Magdeburg. Three other cases were found in assembly locations in Halberstadt, Gröningen and Haldensleben. Due to the sale of such stars or the showing of ideologically similar symbols and objects on the Internet, eleven further investigations into hate speech have been initiated.
4:36 a.m. – Designated FDP Secretary General wants strategy for opening
The designated FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai has called for a “concrete exit strategy” with clearly defined opening steps from the corona restrictions. This must already be available if forecasts from experts are correct and the number of infections decreases again at the end of February, said Djir-Sarai of the German Press Agency.
“In addition, we must now ask ourselves whether certain restrictions on freedom are still effective and proportionate in the current situation, in which there is no increase in the number of corona patients in intensive care units despite the increasing number of cases,” Djir-Sarai continued. “I am thinking in particular of the 2G rules in retail. The 2G rule does not apply in convenience stores and I could see lifting it for retail as well.”
4:13 a.m. – RKI reports highs again
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports a new high with 236,120 positive tests within 24 hours. That is 32,984 more cases than on Thursday a week ago, when 203,136 new infections were reported.
The nationwide seven-day incidence rises to a record 1283.2 from 1227.5 the previous day. 164 other people died in connection with the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 118,334. So far, more than 10.42 million corona tests have been positive in Germany.
4:06 a.m. – Economics Minister Aiwanger calls for relaxation
Bavaria’s Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger has spoken out in favor of the early easing of the corona measures in Bavaria. “We have to return to normality as soon as the hospital situation somehow allows it,” said the free voter chief and deputy prime minister of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Thursday).
Aiwanger told the newspaper that there are currently very strong demands to relax the curfew or to lift it completely. The current strict contact restrictions for both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated and the ban on body-related services such as visiting the hairdresser for the unvaccinated cannot be maintained for months if the intensive occupancy continues to drop significantly, said the Free Voter boss.
At the same time, Aiwanger criticized statements by Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), who had ruled out an end to the corona restrictions before Easter. “If the virologists hope that the omicron numbers will drop from mid-February, then you cannot say, like Mr Kretschmann, that we will not take any further steps to open until Easter,” said Aiwanger. These are strong encroachments on people’s liberties, which must be well justified. Kretschmann qualified his statements on Wednesday.
2:51 a.m. – US airlines are calling for the end of the test obligation
Airlines, business and travel associations in the USA are pushing for a lifting of the test requirement for vaccinated people before international flights. “Surveys of passengers show that pre-departure testing is an important factor in the decision not to travel abroad. People just aren’t willing to take the risk of not being able to return to the United States,” industry association Airlines for America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Aerospace Industries Association and the U.S. Travel Association wrote in a joint statement to the US White House Coronavirus Coordinator Jeff Zients.
The US President’s Office declined to comment. Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta and United, among others, said last week that international air travel was down 38 percent compared to 2019.
1.30 a.m. – The German Medical Association calls for a phased plan for relaxation
The German Medical Association is calling for a step-by-step plan 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,” said the President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND, Thursday editions). “The federal and state governments should therefore be prepared and, if possible, prepare phased plans for openings, which can then hopefully be implemented soon.”
At the same time, Reinhardt emphasized that the restrictions on public life are still unavoidable at the moment: “The situation in this country is simply different than in England or Denmark. Germany has the second-oldest population in Europe and, compared to Denmark and England, a low vaccination rate among the elderly.” In the age group over 60, twelve percent are still unvaccinated.
1:20 a.m. – German right-wing extremists at protests abroad
Individual right-wing extremists from Germany have been spotted abroad at corona protests. “The federal government has isolated information about the participation of German right-wing extremists in demonstrations against the Corona policy in other European countries,” says a response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a written question from the domestic policy spokeswoman for the left-wing faction, Martina Renner.
For example, employees of the “Compact Magazine”, classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a right-wing extremist effort, reported on site from several rallies in other European countries, explained Interior State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter. In addition, individual participants in corresponding rallies have references to the Identitarian Movement in Germany, according to the answer that is available to the German Press Agency.
“I’ve noticed that the same extreme right-wing actors who dominated the protests against the federal government’s refugee policy in 2015 are coming to the fore during the demonstrations against the Corona measures,” said Renner. The slogans and the visual appearance were similar to those of the Identitarian Movement and the Pegida demonstrations. “Racism, anti-Semitism and hostility to democracy” would be spread.
1:05 a.m. – 260 people demonstrate in Wolgast against politics
There was another demonstration against the Corona policy in Wolgast on Wednesday evening. Around 260 people took part in the registered meeting at the top, according to the police. The day before, around 1,400 people had protested in Wolgast. The meeting on Wednesday was held under the motto “Against compulsory vaccination and against disproportionate corona measures!” and was declared over after almost two hours at around 8 p.m.
The judiciary takes action against the relativization of the Holocaust during corona protests
The judiciary is taking action against opponents of the Corona policy who wear symbols during protests that put the Holocaust into perspective. The so-called “Jewish Star” with the word “unvaccinated” fulfills the criminal offense of hate speech.
Some participants ignored the requirement to wear a mouth and nose cover, the police said. The police officers had therefore determined the personal details of eight people. One participant resisted the officers. At the final rally, a knife was also secured from one participant. Otherwise, the event went largely smoothly.
12:16 a.m. – New Zealand announces gradual opening of 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.