Pandemic situation in Germany: “Sad climax” around Christmas

Health Minister Spahn and RKI boss Wieler painted a bleak picture of the corona situation – especially at Christmas. Both renewed their vaccination call. There would be enough vaccine for 30 million vaccinations by the end of the year, said Spahn.

The prospects are still bad, the measures have come late – now it is a matter of consistently implementing and monitoring them in order to get the fourth corona wave under control. This is the conclusion of the executive health minister, Jens Spahn, and the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler. Both informed the press about the current pandemic situation almost every Friday – for Spahn it was the last time in his role as minister.

With a view to the holidays, he expressed his concern: Even if the latest measures were taken immediately and the number of infections could now be reduced, the situation in the intensive care units will “reach its sad climax around Christmas”.

Spahn emphasized that all adults in Germany would have had themselves vaccinated if the country had not been in such a situation. “The incidence of the unvaccinated is higher in all age groups than that of the vaccinated.” Even in the intensive care units, significantly more unvaccinated people than vaccinated people would have to be cared for, Spahn added.

Vaccination campaign will not fail because of the vaccine

The minister again called for vaccinations. Although he is skeptical of a general vaccination requirement, he believes that vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic.

Spahn made it clear that there would be enough vaccine for 30 million booster vaccinations by Christmas. Since the Prime Minister’s Conference on November 18, ten million of the 55 million vaccinated adults have already received a booster vaccination. Ten million more doses have already been delivered, and another ten million vaccine doses will follow at the beginning of next week. The CDU politician emphasizes that the goal set by the federal and state governments will not fail in terms of supply.

“Much too early” to speak of a trend reversal

The President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, also rated the current situation as dramatic. In the face of stagnating numbers or declining values ​​in the seven-day incidence, he warned against speaking of a trend reversal now. “On the contrary,” says Wieler, it is “far too early” for that.

In some regions, stricter measures actually had an impact. In others, however, lower case numbers are due to the fact that capacities are exhausted. Laboratories and health authorities can no longer keep up with testing and reporting, he said. According to the reporting figures, one percent of the population is currently acutely infected with Corona. The actual value is presumably much higher. According to Wieler, the RKI is assuming an estimated underreporting by a factor of 2 to 3.

4800 Covid patients are in the intensive care unit, and the deaths have also increased significantly. Around 400 corona deaths were reported every day. The health system is still massively overloaded. “We have no time to lose – not a single day.”

Omikron bursts in dire straits

In this emergency, the new Corona variant Omikron, which cannot yet be assessed, says Wieler. What is certain is that the mutant has arrived in Germany and could be even more contagious than the Delta variant.

That is why Wieler also warned that the measures now decided by the federal and state governments must be implemented consistently by everyone, which has not always happened in the past. In addition, each individual should show solidarity, unvaccinated and vaccinated people should limit contacts.

General compulsory vaccination – “It’s really not that trivial”

Wieler also called for vaccinations again and stated: “One thing is clear, without everyone having immune protection, it will be very, very difficult for us to bring this pandemic to a standstill.”

In the debate about a general vaccination requirement, however, he advocated a cautious approach. The topic must be “communicated and considered very, very carefully,” said Wieler. There are a lot of questions about the age at which a vaccination is compulsory and how it should be carried out and how it is dealt with that vaccinations do not provide 100% protection, but may have to be refreshed.

“It really takes an intense debate to work out the pros and cons. (…) It’s really not that trivial.” He would like a “well-founded discussion” and “then a really informed decision in parliament,” said Wieler.