The mutations of the coronavirus are spreading rapidly in Germany.
If the pandemic is not stopped, a super virus could emerge.
The mass vaccinations in times of increasing coronavirus infections * in Germany could have fatal effects on the fight against the pandemic.
The reason: If the mass is vaccinated when the infection numbers explode, this favors the formation of sometimes new dangerous virus mutants.
Experts urgently warn that the corona vaccines in the EU * are ineffective in the worst case against such new mutations of the coronavirus *.
In the following,
echo24.de
*
reported
on how dangerous the current Corona course in Germany could be.
Experts warn of super virus mutation: what makes vaccination so dangerous
One of the experts who advocates a different approach to the coronavirus pandemic is Chancellor Helge Braun, who is himself a doctor.
If a new variant of the corona virus were to emerge that is resistant to the existing corona vaccines, "we would be left empty-handed", Braun warns in an interview with the
Bild newspaper
with regard to the current procedure.
But how do such mutations actually come about?
And why is one mutation dangerous and another not?
As the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
reports, mutations in a virus variant are initially nothing unusual.
The best example is the flu virus, which appears in different variants every year.
This is another reason why the flu vaccination never offers completely reliable protection.
The manufacturers of the so-called mRNA vaccines, including Biontech, assume that their vaccines also work against new virus variants or at least prevent deaths and serious disease courses.
Corona course in Germany: When mutations become really dangerous
However, this will only work as long as the mutations of the coronavirus do not develop any new properties.
Means: The mutant must not undermine the immune protection caused by the corona vaccination.
However, we do not have any direct influence on it.
Such dangerous mutations of the coronavirus arise randomly.
Some pathogens are more infectious than others.
Depending on the type of virus, the course of the disease can be severe or less severe.
The risk of infection can also differ from mutant to mutant, as the British corona mutation * shows all too clearly.
It becomes really dangerous when a new variant of the coronavirus, which undermines the immune protection, multiplies in a person who is currently being administered a corona vaccine.
The result: the mutant is not affected by the vaccination and can reproduce unhindered via host cells.
Mutations in Germany: Vaccines would have to be adapted first
What is even worse is that the mutant can develop resistance to the administered vaccine.
As a result, the corona vaccine used becomes ineffective.
And if other people are nearby, the mutant can also attack them with resistance to the corona vaccine, provided that there are no protective concepts such as minimum distance or masking requirements.
If there is also a highly contagious mutation, the chaos is perfect.
+
Biontech founder Ugur Sahin is already working on adapting Biontech's vaccine to the mutations.
© Dominik Pietsch / Biontech
If you want to reduce the risk of vaccine-resistant mutants, you should first reduce the number of new infections every day and then vaccinate at a high speed, writes the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
as a recommendation to those driving the corona pandemic.
Should dangerous mutations of the coronavirus actually occur, existing vaccines would have to be adapted in a hurry.
The vaccine straw manufacturer Moderna is already testing an adapted vaccine against the British mutation.
Mutations in Germany: This is how Biontech / Pfizer want to solve the problem
The only question is, which is easier?
A better procedure in the corona crisis or a vaccine update that is not yet available?
At least the manufacturer Biontech had announced that it would be relatively easy to carry out a vaccine update on its own mRNA vaccine.
It could be much more difficult to adapt to the existing vector vaccines such as those from Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V or AstraZeneca.
In other words: A much worse shortage of corona vaccines could develop in Germany.
*
echo24.de
is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
List of rubric lists: © Wilfredo Lee / dpa
