Gloomy prognosis: the immunologist at "Lanz" is already looking to the next Corona winter

Created: 01/09/2022, 02:14 PM

From: Tom Offinger

The discussion about a general compulsory vaccination is gaining momentum in the wake of the Omikron wave.

At "Markus Lanz", immunologist Watzl also looks to the future.

Munich - The corona pandemic will also determine events around the world in winter 2021/22.

After the success of the vaccination campaign and a comparatively permissive summer, stricter rules are now again in force in Germany, including contact restrictions and restrictions for the catering trade.

With the discovery of the omicron variant, long-term predictions for the course of the pandemic are almost impossible, but experts like the immunologist Carsten Watzl believe that another corona winter could be ahead.

Immunologist Carsten Watzl: Two million people at risk

“We still have ten percent unvaccinated over 60 year olds. That’s over two million people who have a relatively high risk of getting seriously ill, ”Watzl described in“ Markus Lanz ”on January 5th. If all these people become infected, the hospitals are threatened with an extreme situation, said Watzl. At the same time, not everyone would be infected by the omicron wave, the expert pointed out, so that the current vaccination gap cannot be closed by this alone.

Instead, the immunologist paints a horrific scenario: "So next winter we will still have so many unvaccinated people that we will have to issue general restrictions again to protect these people." The motto now has to be to vaccinate as many people as possible to fill the gap to close in time.

Instead of a direct vaccination requirement, Watzl advertised a so-called "emergency switch" on the show.

He himself has recently done a lot of educational work for the vaccinations, but has now reached a limit.

Markus Lanz expert warns: The same situation threatens next year

“When we say we won't be at a vaccination quota of XY by June or July of this year.

If we have not achieved that, then there is compulsory vaccination, ”pleaded the immunologist.

If this does not happen, you will be faced with exactly the same situation in a year and will have to discuss the various G-regulations and possible contact restrictions again.

“That mustn't happen to us,” said Watzl to the panel in which two politicians sat with Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, health policy spokeswoman for the FDP, and the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU).