"We're not that far": will Corona soon be over?

Virologist doubts omicron-delta comparison

Created: 01/28/2022, 21:22

Sandra Ciesek, Director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital in Frankfurt.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

For virologist Sandra Ciesek, there is no end in sight to the corona pandemic.

She is very critical of the shortening of the recovered status to three months.

Frankfurt/Main - In view of the omicron wave and the numerous infections with the corona virus associated with it, there is increasing hope that the pandemic will become endemic.

But the Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek still sees this goal as a long way off.

It is not yet possible to say when the virus will become endemic, said the director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the Frankfurt University Hospital on Friday.

"It's important to understand that you only reach an endemic stage when everyone has had contact somehow - either through vaccination or infection and then the courses just become milder.

And we're not that far."

The end of the corona pandemic is not foreseeable for virologist Ciesek

The fact that Omikron is really so much more infectious than Delta is “not at all clear from a virological point of view,” said Ciesek, “rather unlikely”.

The fact that more people are infected is more due to “the fact that the virus finds many more victims”: At Delta, the virus was “blocked” better by the vaccinated people, with the omicron variant vaccinated and boosted people also became infected, which is why the virus can now circulate better again.

Another reason is the shorter incubation period.

The hope that the corona pandemic would come to an end with the vaccine "unfortunately didn't really come true," Ciesek continued.

Vaccinations are still important to prevent serious illnesses.

Virologists had expected the virus to change, but not "that it would happen so quickly and that we would see so many variants".

Healed status three instead of six months: Ciesek "not really happy"

Ciesek is critical of the RKI's reduction of the recovered status from six to three months.

"I'm not really happy and satisfied with the regulations," said the virologist.

Defining a uniform point in time for everyone is “very difficult”.

It must be taken into account which virus variant you were infected with, how old you are and how long ago the vaccinations were.

"The rule with the three months is very unfavorable for some patients," explained Ciesek.

Young people who were vaccinated in the summer and became infected in the fall are now “in a real dilemma”.

They would now have to be boosted after three months, "but some have antibodies that go beyond our measurement window".

Here it makes sense to wait for the new vaccine adapted to Omikron.

With 60-year-olds it is very different.

Ciesek suggested that the timing of the booster vaccination after recovery should be decided "individually and medically".