Corona year 2022: Top virologist hopes for "normality" in spring - "Could make it"

Created: 01/02/2022, 5:07 pm

From: Andreas Schmid

How much longer will Germany be affected by Corona?

Virologist Martin Stürmer is optimistic about the Covid year 2022.

There could be some relaxation soon.

Munich - Corona, a topic that will remain topical in 2022.

In what form does not seem to be foreseeable at the moment.

Is the vaccination quota of 71 percent sufficient (as of January 1)?

How does the Corona variant Omikron influence the pandemic?

Will there be a “massive fifth wave” that Health Minister Karl Lauterbach predicted in mid-December?

And when will the corona situation relax again?

Corona: immunologist optimistic - "we could create normality in spring or summer"

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Virologist Martin Stürmer is confident at the beginning of the year.

"It is important to show people that we are on the right track: We could manage to return to normal in spring or summer," the 53-year-old told

.

In order for Germany to have a corona stress-free year 2022, according to the striker, however, more speed is needed when boosting.

All parts of the population - including those under the age of five, for example - should receive a booster vaccination.

“This is important so that everyone else is really well protected because there will always be people who do not want to be vaccinated.” In Israel, one of the pioneering countries in terms of booster vaccination, the fourth vaccination is currently being administered.

Virologist Dr.

Martin Stürmer, head of a medical laboratory and lecturer in virology at the University of Frankfurt.

© teutopress / imago

Corona: Vaccination protects against a severe course

Vaccination remains the key to ending the pandemic. Andreas Radbruch, President of the European Federation of Immunological Societies, supports this aspect, which has been emphasized again and again by the Federal Government. "The high rate of completely twice vaccinated of more than 80 percent in the over 18-year-olds and more than 85 percent in the over 60-year-olds has contributed to a significant reduction in the burden of disease," said Radbruch the sheet, referring to the protection of a Vaccination against serious illnesses.

More than six months after the second vaccination, protection against a severe course is, according to Radbruch, "with infection with all previous variants of SARS-CoV-2 still over 95 percent". According to current knowledge, Omikron assumes a protection of 70 percent. However, because Omikron has only emerged recently, these findings can change rapidly.

By the way, new vaccines will be available in the future.

Vaccines such as Novavax or Valneva differ from the vaccines currently used in terms of the vaccine type, and could possibly convince some of the unvaccinated to vaccinate - and thus also contribute to a faster end to the pandemic.

According to expert statements, non-vaccinated persons are currently significantly less protected from Omikron than immunized persons.

Lauterbach said on Sunday that he was "very, very concerned about the unvaccinated people who are now running into the Omikron wave".

Omicron Panic?

New Corona variant more contagious, but also milder

There are currently many indications that Omikron is more contagious, but milder in the course of the disease than its predecessors such as Delta. In other words, significantly more people are infected, which can be seen from the record infection numbers across Europe. But: Fewer infected people end up in the intensive care unit due to a difficult course. This shows the so-called hospitalization rate. It shows how many out of 100,000 people have to be hospitalized for Covid-19 within a week. The current average is 3.12 (as of January 2). For comparison: at the beginning of December the hospitalization rate was around 12, at Christmas 2020 it reached the previous record of just under 16.

The virologist Klaus Stöhr therefore warns of any panic. Stöhr told the NDR that he could not fully understand where the sometimes dramatic "linguistics" that are used to describe the spread of the new Corona variant in Germany come from. “The virus has now adapted. Because the upper respiratory tract is affected - that is, the nose and throat, not the lungs - the course of the disease is milder. ”This mild course has direct effects on the health system. "The reality can then be seen in the hospitals," said Stöhr, referring to the low hospitalization rate. Nevertheless, it is still a matter of containing the infection process and avoiding unnecessary contact. When the much-cited normalcy will return, it does not seem entirely clear on the whole.