Status: 04.11.2021 5:08 p.m.
Shortly before the start of a conference with his federal and state counterparts, Bavaria’s Minister of Health Holetschek spoke out in favor of significantly more booster vaccinations. The 2G rule could also be expanded.
The fourth corona wave in Germany is causing the number of cases to skyrocket: The health authorities recently reported 33,949 new infections within one day – more than ever in the course of the pandemic. With this in mind, the federal and state health ministers will be discussed at a conference in Lindau until tomorrow.
“We want to make sure which common path we take in winter,” said Bavaria’s Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek, who is also chairman of the group. The significantly increased number of infections showed that Germany was still “in the middle of an epidemic emergency,” said the CSU politician. “We must not lull anyone into a false sense of security”. Therefore “mindfulness and caution” are the “order of the day”.
Booster vaccinations against fourth wave
Booster vaccinations are therefore an important topic at the conference. Israel is a good example of how the pandemic situation can be managed with a refresher campaign, said Holetschek. He confirmed that Health Minister Jens Spahn and the medical associations had agreed to offer a booster vaccination to everyone who had been fully vaccinated six months ago.
Priority should be given to the elderly, medical staff and people with immunodeficiency, according to Holetschek. People who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be vaccinated again after four weeks. More than ten million people are already eligible. “It is important to carry out this campaign on a larger scale,” said Holetschek.
Test obligation for visitors?
Holetschek rejected a mandatory vaccination requirement for hospital and nursing staff. Instead, the obligation to test in the facilities should now be expanded for all visitors and employees, said the minister. But vaccinations are the way out of the crisis. “In the pandemic, vaccination is like a penalty kick on an empty goal.”
At the same time, Holetschek did not rule out more restrictions for unvaccinated people. In view of the situation, restricting access to gastronomy or to events according to the so-called 2G rule to vaccinated and convalescent people is “definitely a topic that needs to be discussed,” he said. In many hospitals the situation is tense again, since “mainly” unvaccinated people have to be cared for.