Corona vaccines: Doctors as vaccine skeptics tagesschau.de

Again and again, groups of doctors draw attention to themselves, who doubt the benefits of vaccinations with questionable arguments. Politicians also refer to such statements.

In an open letter, the “Doctors Stand Up” initiative warned that the corona vaccination would not protect against a severe course and that it entailed risks. “At best, in the case of old people and those with risk factors for a severe course, any protective effect of the vaccination could predominate,” says the letter, which is addressed to the health ministers of the federal states, the parties represented in the Bundestag and the federal government. The absolute, individual benefit of the vaccinations is “marginal in the population average”.

The letter was signed by 380 physicians from various disciplines as well as the “Doctors for Individual Vaccination Decisions” initiative.

Incomplete claims as evidence

The authors of the letter support their claims with footnotes to scientific studies; However, references in the letter are incomplete, incorrect – or the statements are not weighted.

The authors claim that due to the short observation period and the low number of events, no statements can be made about the prevention of severe courses or deaths due to the vaccination. This claim ignores the fact that vaccines against corona have been vaccinated in Germany for more than a year and have contributed to the fight against the pandemic.

Efficacy proven

The mRNA vaccines from Biontech and Moderna and the vector vaccine from AstraZeneca are very effective against the delta variant: the probability that vaccinated people will be protected against severe corona disease and that they will not have to be treated in hospital is high after Information from the Robert Koch Institute at about 90 percent. According to the RKI, the vaccines protect against a symptomatic disease with at least a 75 percent probability.

According to the first studies, vaccinations also protect against the omicron variant, albeit less effectively. Accordingly, experts such as virologist Christian Drosten recommend a triple vaccination. This alone reduces the probability of becoming infected with the omicron variant by 54 percent, like that.

In addition, according to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), the majority of corona patients in the intensive care units are not vaccinated.

The authors of the letter, on the other hand, cite a study in which vaccinated and non-vaccinated people were compared with regard to the probability of being hospitalized with an infection as evidence for their thesis. They claim: According to the study, the “relative risk reduction”, i.e. the probability of being protected from a severe course with hospitalization as a vaccinated person, is 58 percent. However, the study gives a higher number in this context, namely 74 percent. Summarized accordingly the study also: “The study suggests that the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine [von Biontech/Pfizer, Anm.] effective for a variety of Covid-related outcomes.”

At the request of tagesschau.de writes one of the undersigned physicians that it is “rather non-transparent as to which calculation method” the study came to the conclusion with. He does not explain how the authors of the letter came up with the number 58 percent. “Mimikama” had already reported the wrong number.

Debate about children and young people

The authors of the letter also address the debate about corona vaccinations for children and young people. According to current knowledge, the risk of a severe course of corona in children and adolescents is lower than in adults. The authors of the letter also refer to this – but at the same time claim that children and adolescents are “probably” more frequently affected by heart muscle inflammation. However, they do not prove this statement; just as little as the claim that children, adolescents and young adults need to be vaccinated more frequently in order to prevent serious illness or corona-related death.

From these claims, the authors draw the conclusion that “at most in old people and those with risk factors for a severe course” a “possible protective effect of the vaccination” could predominate. In doing so, the authors completely disregard the benefits of vaccination for the (statistically largest in Germany) population group of 20 to 60 year olds.

At the request of tagesschau.de one of the signatories claims that the currently available data do not give any general recommendation for this population group, because the available studies are too weak for that. Studies that prove the effectiveness of the vaccination, he assumes “arithmetic tricks”.

AfD relies on letter

Despite the sometimes questionable arguments, the statements in the letter are spreading – not only through social networks, but also through politicians. The AfD politician Tino Chrupalla led in the ARD morning magazine the initiative as an argument against compulsory vaccination and repeated the warning against vaccinating children and young people against Corona.

The list of signatories includes people who doubt the point of the corona vaccination or who downplay corona. For example, a doctor from Hamburg who was originally one of the leading figures in the “Doctors for Enlightenment” movement. Several supporters of this movement have demonstrable certificates issued against the wearing of masks – without prior investigation. The doctor Sucharit Bhakdi also signed the letter. The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating him for anti-Semitic statements.

Rolf Kron, also a signatory and according to his own statement “a general practitioner and homeopath”, runs a channel on Telegram that bears the same name as the “Doctors stand up” initiative. Similar to Bhakdi, Kron appeared as a speaker at “lateral thinker” rallies. The public prosecutor’s office also investigated him. He is suspected of having issued incorrect health certificates in 117 to exempt him from the obligation to wear a mask. At a request from tagesschau.de neither Bhakdi nor Kron reacted.

Criticism from the Medical Association

Klaus Reinhard, President of the German Medical Association, to which the open letter was also sent, criticizes this and similar letters. “Practices report that they receive letters from opponents of vaccination in the legal style with false claims about Corona or about the Corona vaccines. Obviously, these letters are intended to unsettle doctors and thus disrupt the vaccination campaign in Germany,” Reinhard said tagesschau.de.

“However, this will not succeed, because of course the doctors are extensively informed about the vaccines approved in Germany, which also includes the rare side effects and liability issues. These letters are annoying and annoying, but they don’t change the fact that the doctors are very committed to the vaccination campaign.”

At the request of tagesschau.de writes one of the signers of the open letter that the accusation of false, incomplete or unsubstantiated claims in the letter is firmly rejected. The group is not about “generally ‘vaccination-critical’ doctors”, but one judges vaccinations according to the current evidence situation in order to then “come to a participatory, informed decision with the patients as to whether the vaccination is suitable for the respective person in is “meaningful” in its entirety.