Virologist Christian Drosten emphasizes the importance of the corona vaccination and becomes very clear with regard to the Delta variant.
Frankfurt - In view of the steadily increasing number of corona cases in Germany, people who have not yet been vaccinated against the corona virus * could face a difficult autumn and winter. This is explained by virologist Christian Drosten *, professor at the Berlin Charité. Above all, Drosten urgently advises people over the age of 45 to have a vaccination. He recommends them "to deal very seriously with whether they really don't want to be vaccinated," the scientist told the German Press Agency (DPA).
As part of the Corona summit *, the federal government around the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU *) recently announced that it would tighten the regulations, especially for unvaccinated people in autumn *.
Virologist Christian Drosten put a stop to possible plans of some people in Germany to indirectly protect themselves by achieving herd immunity with a vaccination quota of a good two thirds of the population.
Due to the highly contagious delta variant of the corona virus, this calculation no longer works out.
Corona: Virologist Drosten on the Delta variant - "If you don't get vaccinated, you will be infected"
So far, more than 48 million people in Germany have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
This corresponds to a rate of 57.8 percent.
More than 52 million Germans have received at least one corona vaccination.
These numbers come from the vaccination dashboard of the Federal Ministry of Health (as of 08/19/2021).
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In view of the highly contagious Delta variant, virologist Christian Drosten urgently recommends corona vaccination.
(Archive image)
© Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Virologist Christian Drosten points out that due to the increasing number of fully vaccinated people in Germany, more new infections are allowed every day than last year. Accordingly, the risk of infection for unvaccinated people will increase significantly in the coming autumn and winter. Also because people who have already been vaccinated are likely to be considered carriers of the coronavirus some time after their vaccination, even without becoming ill themselves. "Those who do not get vaccinated will become infected, and maybe this as early as this winter", Drosten becomes clear.
According to Christian Drosten, no one can hope to be spared from corona disease when the pandemic expires.
Due to the now dominant delta variant, the corona vaccination is no longer a question of community protection.
Rather, it is about protecting yourself from infection.
Drosten nevertheless emphasized to the DPA that he was convinced that many hesitant people would soon decide to have the corona vaccination, because they experience in the immediate vicinity what a Covid disease means for unvaccinated people.
Corona vaccination: According to Christian Drosten, the protective effect is higher than that of influenza vaccines
The Berlin virologist also commented on the booster vaccination against the corona virus. In autumn, therefore, a booster vaccination should not be necessary for a large part of the vaccinated. "The protective effect of the corona vaccines is much better than, for example, the influenza vaccines," he told the DPA. He also does not expect a new virus variant that is resistant to the available corona vaccines * to appear anytime soon.
A booster vaccination in autumn, on the other hand, makes sense for older people and certain risk patients.
"After six months, the antibody level acquired through the vaccination goes down significantly, especially in very old people," says Christian Drosten.
He can therefore imagine refreshments, especially in facilities such as retirement homes.
For the rest of the population, an age level may be defined at some point, from which a booster vaccination would make sense.
"This autumn, however, it is important to first close the vaccination gaps in the over 60-year-olds," explains the virologist at the Charité in Berlin.
(yw)
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List of rubric lists: © Kay Nietfeld / dpa