Ciesek criticizes the shortening of the recovered status

Created: 2022-01-28Updated: 2022-01-28, 4:00 p.m

"This virus has surprised us again and again," says Ciesek two years after the start of the corona pandemic.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

Lauterbach continues to insist that the recovered status is not valid for six but three months.

Virologist Ciesek is "not happy" about this - and sees a problem, especially for young people.

Wiesbaden – The Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek is also critical of the reduction in the recovered status from six to three months.

On Friday, the director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the Frankfurt University Hospital advocated deciding the time of the booster after recovery “individually and medically”.

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

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.

Ciesek: Dilemma for young people

"The regulation with the three months is very unfavorable for some patients," she said in Wiesbaden.

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.

"This virus has surprised us again and again," said Ciesek in her balance sheet two years after the beginning of the pandemic.

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

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

Vaccinations are still important to prevent serious illnesses.

Unclear if omicron much more infectious

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 getting infected is more due to “the fact that the virus finds many more victims”: At Delta, the virus was “blocked” better by those who were vaccinated, those who were vaccinated and boosted were also infected with Omikron, which is why the virus can now do better again circulate. Another reason is the shorter incubation period.

Ciesek does not believe that a fourth vaccination will soon be necessary for everyone.

For Omikron, that doesn't make "a big difference".

The antibodies rose less than after the second or third vaccination "and I also know some who got infected despite four vaccinations".

In the long term, however, more than three vaccinations are conceivable: "I do believe that some people will have to be vaccinated regularly."

more on the subject

Corona vaccination requirement in care: is there a risk of staff shortages and job losses in Bavaria’s clinics?

Corona press conference: Lauterbach smiles because of "provocative question"

Unvaccinated workers in doctor's offices are at risk of being fired

It is not yet possible to say when the virus will become endemic.

"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." dpa