Status: 13.10.2021 07:26 a.m.
In the debate about the vaccination quota, the virologist Drosten defended the RKI: The one-sided assignment of blame to the institute was not justified and the public excitement was “completely in vain”.
After the criticism of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) because of different information on the vaccination rate, the virologist Christian Drosten has taken the institute under protection. He does not consider the unilateral assignment of blame to the RKI and Lothar Wieler to be justified, said the expert from the Berlin Charité im NDR-Podcast “Coronavirus Update”. The topic is not new either, the RKI has been pointing out the problem for a long time.
Background is a week ago published report on an RKI vaccination survey. The RKI explains that there are probably more adults vaccinated in this country than the data from the reporting system suggest. It was said that the rate for once and fully vaccinated people aged 18 and over could be up to five percentage points higher. As early as August, the RKI reported “a certain degree of uncertainty” in the interpretation of vaccination rate data.
Ultimately, the public excitement about the discrepancy is “completely in vain,” said Drosten now. The situation has not changed. “This is just the total bang, what happened there.” You have to reckon with the vaccination rate of the total population (and not of adults), said Drosten. The difference between the reporting system and the RKI accompanying examination is small and “irrelevant” for the assessment of the overall situation. The accompanying study, a survey, also has some limitations.
“Step by step”
In the podcast, Drosten also advocated loosening corona protective measures only gradually: “The most important thing is to close the vaccine picks. And then we open step by step, one step at a time.” The quota should be increased “as high as possible”.
It was the 100th episode of the podcast. The format is to be continued in the coming weeks with shorter episodes than last. In essence, however, he thinks his project of disseminating scientific information in this way has been completed since vaccines have become widely available, said Drosten. Science delivered. “The whole thing is now the task of politics.”