Status: 10/26/2021 11:43 a.m.
The discussion about the unvaccinated national player Kimmich is “limitless nonsense” – this is how the chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission, Mertens, sees it. The sports scientist Froböse warns of Long-Covid in competitive athletes.
The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO), Thomas Mertens, believes the public discussion about the vaccination status of soccer player Joshua Kimmich is excessive. “It is Kimmich’s personal decision, and it should stay that way. The debate about Kimmich is boundless nonsense,” Mertens told “Bild”. One would never discuss Kimmich’s private medical decisions, “if he weren’t so exposed as a football professional,” explained the STIKO chairman.
The Bayern professional admitted on Saturday that he was not vaccinated against the corona virus and justified that with a lack of “long-term studies”. It is “possible that I will be vaccinated in the future”, emphasized Kimmich, but did not want to commit himself whether or when this could happen.
Scientists disagree
Many scientists, including Mertens and the Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, Carsten Watzl, clearly invalidated Kimmich’s concerns. There is a consensus in science that side effects occurring late after a vaccination “do not occur or were an extremely rare rarity with individual vaccines”, according to Mertens. Immunologist Watzl said: “The fact that I will be vaccinated today and will have a side effect next year does not exist, has never happened before and will not occur with the Covid 19 vaccination either.”
The satirical magazine “Der Postillon” wrote in an article that was not meant seriously that Kimmich would now also forego headers for fear of long-term consequences. In contrast to the corona vaccination, numerous studies have been published that suggest a connection between frequent headballs and severe brain diseases or neurological diseases such as dementia. Several doctors are therefore calling for the header game to be banned entirely or at least in the youth sector.
Sports scientist warns Kimmich
Ingo Froböse, professor of prevention and rehabilitation in sport at the German Sport University Cologne, warns of the long-term consequences of long-covid in unvaccinated athletes. Kimmich also belongs to the endangered group, possibly suffering from long-term effects after a possible corona infection. “The risk he is taking here is pretty big. The big problems with non-vaccinated athletes are caused by Long-Covid,” said Froböse in the ARD morning magazine.
Ingo Froböse, German Sport University Cologne, on long-term Covid consequences in non-vaccinated athletes
Morning magazine, October 26th, 2021
Long-Covid is a long-term consequence “and what a”, said the sports scientist. In the worst case, this could lead to the end of a career, as has already occurred with other athletes. At the sports university in Cologne, many athletes are now being considered and supervised, “which have protracted consequences because they are not vaccinated,” said Froböse.
He could not fully understand Kimmich’s argument: “He’s wrong to take a wrong look at the vaccination.” There are of course side effects, “but these are always only acute reactions from the vaccination,” said Froböse.