The health ministers of the federal states are meeting today with Jens Spahn.
They want to make booster vaccinations possible for everyone.
In Lindau on Lake Constance, Jens Spahn and the state health ministers are discussing the fourth wave.
Booster vaccinations should be possible for everyone six months after the second vaccination.
At 1 p.m., a press conference with Spahn and his colleagues Holetschek (Bavaria), Bachmann (Saarland) and Petra Grimm-Benne (Saxony-Anhalt) is scheduled.
Lindau - The fourth Corona * wave is picking up speed.
The health authorities in Germany reported the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) to the new record of 37,120 new corona infections within one day.
The RKI even changed its risk assessment for incompletely or not vaccinated people from “high” to “very high”, according to the weekly report published on Thursday evening.
"For fully vaccinated people, the risk is assessed as moderate, but increasing due to the increasing number of infections," it said.
A week ago, the risk for vaccinated people was described as "moderate" in the report.
Corona: Health ministers advise on booster vaccinations
Against this background, the health ministers of the federal states meet in Lindau on Lake Constance.
The important topics: booster vaccinations *, protection of nursing home residents and support for hospitals.
At 1 p.m., a press conference with Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU *) and his country colleagues Klaus Holetschek (CSU *) from Bavaria, Monika Bachmann (CDU, Saarland) and Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD, Saxony-Anhalt) is scheduled.
The chairman of the conference, Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU), spoke on Thursday of a “big program”.
On some questions, however, there were trend-setting statements right from the start.
Spahn and his colleagues want booster vaccinations for everyone after six months
According to Spahn, the health ministers agree that a booster vaccination six months after the second vaccination with a view to autumn and winter makes sense for everyone. “Boosters should become the rule, not the exception.” Because they are prioritized for first and second vaccinations, it is primarily older people, those with previous illnesses and medical staff who are first in line. “Boosting makes sense there,” said the Minister of Health. The Standing Vaccination Commission currently only recommends booster vaccinations for over 70-year-olds and those with previous illnesses.
Around 2.4 million people have received such a booster vaccination so far.
The Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, Carsten Watzl, also expects a lot from it.
"People get a kind of super protection, so to speak, and can hardly pass the coronavirus * on," he told the
Augsburger Allgemeine
on Friday.
"If the virus hits someone like that, then the pathogen is the end of the line and the spread is stopped," added the immunologist.
Corona: Health ministers advise on protection in nursing homes
In addition, the health ministers are also discussing an expansion of mandatory testing in nursing homes.
Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Social Affairs Manfred Lucha (Greens *) even called for mandatory vaccinations for employees in nursing homes on Thursday.
Holetschek refused this before the meeting began: “At the moment we have agreed, especially in Bavaria, that there is no compulsory vaccination - and that’s the case now.” Instead, the ministers want to agree that in the facilities as well Vaccinated and convalescents are tested.
How closely the tests should be carried out was, however, controversial before the conference.
Financial compensation for clinics and nursing staff should be decided
Financial support for hospitals is also an issue. Should clinics for the care of corona patients have to postpone interventions again, “a targeted financial compensation regulation” would be necessary, according to a draft resolution from several countries for the conference, which is available to the dpa. The Federal Ministry of Health should therefore enable compensation payments from the health fund. First, the
Business Insider
reported about it. In the current situation, Holetschek considers an expiry of the epidemic emergency of national scope, as Jens Spahn is calling for, to be wrong.
He emphasized that it was also time to help clinics and nursing staff financially - for example with tax-free allowances for employees.
The federal and state health ministers had recently exchanged videos almost every week.
The fact that on-site advice is now being provided in Lindau is "very important at the moment," said the Bavarian Minister of Health.
(md with dpa)
* Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA