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I have a previous illness, I am breastfeeding, I can also be vaccinated: Readers sent us on Instagram these and other concerns about a corona vaccination.
We asked an expert to respond to the concern.
Christine Falk is a biologist, professor at the Hannover Medical School and President of the German Society for Immunology.
I am afraid of a thrombosis.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
»This fear of thrombosis can now be completely ruled out.
In the beginning, we at AstraZeneca did indeed have a slightly increased risk of a very special thrombosis, sinus vein thrombosis.
But since we practically stopped vaccinating AstraZeneca in Germany, this signal has completely disappeared. "
Since I am young (18), athletic and healthy, I think that the vaccination has more contra than pro.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
»This question: What benefit do I get when I'm young, fit and healthy and have the feeling that I don't really need it, because I have an easy course, if at all, then one can only say: This is not guaranteed. This virus played from the beginning, and it still does, and Delta does a lot more, Russian Roulette with the people it infects. Of course, the older you are, the higher the risk you have. We learned that from the start. But now I am infecting a lot of children, adolescents and younger people because some of them are not vaccinated. And then it is so that you cannot predict who will have a difficult course. There are a lot of people who were fit and healthy where you thoughtthey shouldn't really mind and they still have a difficult course. "
I'm pregnant.
Is still too unexplored for me in relation to this.
I am breastfeeding.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
»On the subject of pregnancy there is a very clear recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission, the Stiko, which clearly states that pregnant women should not be vaccinated in the first three months of their pregnancy.
But afterwards definitely because during pregnancy the body is naturally very stressed anyway and an additional infection poses a very high risk that it will be a difficult course after all.
Unfortunately, we see that too.
During the breastfeeding period, it is also very clear that if you are vaccinated or have already been vaccinated, the child is even protected to a certain extent by breastfeeding and breast milk. "
Because I do not protect others with the vaccination, because even if I have been completely vaccinated, others will always be infected.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
“These vaccination breakthroughs are currently less than one percent of people who are vaccinated.
So 99 percent of those vaccinated in Germany do not have a breakthrough.
And of course they not only protect themselves, but also society and the environment as a whole.
The effectiveness of the vaccination protection is calculated by the RKI every week.
According to a somewhat complicated formula, this is over 80 percent, across all age groups, including infections, so it is perhaps around 70 percent. "
I am waiting for a live or dead vaccine.
Do not trust mRNA vaccine.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
“The people who say they'd like to wait for a dead vaccine because it sounds more familiar to them may not have realized that a dead vaccine means upbringing the virus and inactivating it and then using it as a vaccine. This virus in particular comes from the bat, and personally I don't necessarily want to have a vaccine that has been killed and I don't know exactly what other antigens this virus has with it. The huge advantage of the mRNA vaccines is that they are very clean, and clean means that there is only the blueprint for this prickly protein. That’s nothing more. All the other proteins from Sars-CoV-2 are not included, they don't even need them. And the mRNA cannot change the genome. She can't do that. She won't.Research has been going on for 20 years as to why it doesn't work, so you don't have to worry that mRNA vaccines will change something in your, our genetic code, so to speak. They can't do that at all. "
I am allergic.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
»In general, one can say that there are no clear patient groups who cannot be vaccinated, with the exception of children under 12 and pregnant women in the first three months.
Everyone else, including the typical allergy sufferers, even people with drug allergies, do not have an increased risk from the vaccination because these allergic reactions to the vaccination are so rare, that is about four per million vaccinates, so the normal allergy we like that know, in general, no matter whether it is hazelnut or medication, do not pose a problem at all.
It has been proven in millions of people who have been vaccinated that there is no problem at all. "
Have respect for the vaccination and wish to have children.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
“With all the vaccines we have, you don't have to worry at all, not at all that you can't get pregnant or that the men will become sterile.
That is not the case at all.
This has been clearly proven because this prickly protein from the Sars-CoV-2 virus is a structure that does not exist anywhere in the body, not even in the egg cells and sperm cells or anywhere else.
Therefore, there can be no effect at all on reproductive ability, i.e. on the ability to become pregnant or to father children. "
I had very severe side effects from the first vaccination.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
»With the so-called side effects that you feel immediately after the vaccination, that the puncture site on your arm hurts, that you have a headache, you feel tired, limp, you may have aching limbs, chills. These are direct, noticeable effects of the immune reaction. Because the immune system does what it should, namely react to the vaccine and produce antibodies and T cells. And part of the body feels that too. You don't need to be afraid because of this, because first of all, as a rule, with the second or now even the third vaccination, which is recommended for some, no more side effects are to be expected. And these things are also very short-term, that means you can feel it right away, but it will be over after a day or two, so you really don't have to worry at all. Yes,that's a bit uncomfortable, but you have a great vaccination protection for months. And actually, such a side effect is a relatively minor matter. Then you are just not so fit for a day. But that’s true. So I don't think there is any need to worry. "
I am skeptical because vaccine was available so quickly.
Christine Falk, Hannover Medical School
“Well, one thing was the development work that has shown over 20 years that you have to make an mRNA vaccine in order for it to work. And the studies, it is indeed the case that study phases one, two, three did not run one after the other because that would have taken years, but phase one went into phase two, and it had this so-called rolling Review means: The European authority or the US and the other authorities have already received data again and again while the study is running and not only at the end of the study, so that while the study is running, it is possible to assess: How is it the safety buffer? Some 90,000 to 100,000 people were included in the approval studies worldwide. And that saved years, this procedure.And that's why it's no less secure and no less well checked, but the processes have simply been nested in such a way that one has gained a lot of time. And it was also extremely important because, as you can see now, we don't have any time. And if you stop too quickly with the quota and think you can open again now, then unfortunately you have exactly the situation we have and high numbers of infections, and we urgently have to get away from this state because it is really not good . "we have and high numbers of infections, and we urgently need to get away from this state of affairs, because it is really not good. "we have and high numbers of infections, and we urgently need to get away from this state of affairs, because it is really not good. "
