Timo Lenzen / DER SPIEGEL
Dear readers,
In the summer it looked for a brief moment as if the end of Corona was in sight.
In the vaccination centers that were hastily set up all over the country, there was finally enough material, and the people were vaccinated quickly and in an orderly manner.
Back then, more than a million vaccine doses were often given - a day.
When you picked up your »spades«, the popular saying at the time, in one of the large centers, it was an impressive moment: After a somewhat bumpy start to the vaccination campaign, you could witness here how Germany organized the virus away.
My colleague Nike Laurenz described this feeling very aptly in this appreciation.
Unfortunately, there is not much left of that.
The number of cases seems to shoot up unchecked, this week we have left the high from last winter behind us.
Yes, it is correct: because part of the population is vaccinated, we can afford a higher seven-day incidence than last year. But this tolerance also has limits: in many federal states, the utilization of intensive care units is already reaching a critical level. There are now primarily unvaccinated - but also vaccinated high-risk patients for whom a breakthrough vaccination can be dangerous due to previous illnesses or their age. So it's no wonder that the RKI has upgraded its risk assessment for both unvaccinated and vaccinated people due to the current situation.
It would help if the rest of the people were finally vaccinated. But there is still no concept of how to reach these skeptics. Booster shots could help before vaccination breakthroughs, but there is also unprecedented confusion at the front. General practitioners, it seems, could be overwhelmed by this. Then rebuild the vaccination centers? At least that is what health minister Jens Spahn (CDU) suggested this week. But is that even realistic? Experts like the ex-THW boss Albrecht Broemme said in this interview: "If you only have a debate when it's already blazing, it's too late."
How big the chaos is and how many people are directly affected by it, is shown in the letter to the editor from 71-year-old R. Böttcher: As a diabetic, high blood pressure patient and therefore part of the risk group, he looked for a possibility for a booster vaccination .
He describes in detail a grueling odyssey up to the longed-for protection from the oncoming fourth wave - and a completely different picture than back then, in the summer of 2021 (the whole letter to the editor can be found here).
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Where is the boost button?
Measures against the fourth wave: How effective does the booster vaccination protect?
Booster vaccinations are used extensively in Israel.
Researchers have now published a study involving more than a million people.
They wanted to find out how well boosters protect against severe Covid-19 courses.
Draft resolution before meeting of health ministers: vaccination centers are to be put back into operation
Most recently, family doctors in particular vaccinated against corona.
Jens Spahn is now planning to bring the vaccination centers out of stand-by mode so that the booster vaccinations can be administered more quickly.
Booster vaccinations for the elderly: GPs are now required
At the beginning of the vaccination campaign, GPs complained that they weren't allowed to participate.
Now some are frighteningly phlegmatic with the 15 million people who will need a third vaccination by the end of the year.
Boosters at the family doctor: "These dinosaur vaccination centers are no longer needed"
The resident doctors can handle the third-party vaccinations, says Armin Beck.
In an interview, the representative of the German Association of General Practitioners explains why he was annoyed about Jens Spahn's statement about the booster vaccination.
Possible comeback of the vaccination centers: "We are
heading
into the fourth wave
without direction.
"
The corona numbers are rising, and there is a loud call in Germany for the vaccination centers to reopen.
Ex-THW boss Broemme set up six such facilities in Berlin in 2020.
He says: The proposal is too late.
Consultations on the corona course: Health ministers discuss the expansion of booster vaccinations
The federal and state health ministers are discussing how to proceed in the second corona winter.
Among other things, further restrictions for unvaccinated people and more speed with booster vaccinations will be debated.
This is how Germany wants to break the fourth wave
Rising numbers of infections: this is how the federal states want to stop the fourth wave
The intensive care units are filling up, the death rate is rising: Are state governments imposing specific measures for the unvaccinated or are restrictions on everyone?
What will apply where in the future?
The overview.
But there is also good news
Denmark's top epidemiologist: "We can now let the pandemic run wild"
No more masks, no corona passport, no more gaps.
Denmark has stopped all measures against Corona.
Here the top epidemiologist Lone Simonsen tells what Germany can learn from it.
Low case numbers and empty hospitals despite a low vaccination rate: The African corona miracle
New studies show that in parts of Africa the majority of the population has already been infected with the corona virus.
Despite fewer vaccinations, the major catastrophe did not materialize - at least so far.
Covid-19 in worldwide numbers
Confirmed Cases: 248,700,2500
Deaths: 5,032,099
Germany: 4,709,488 confirmed patients, 96,346 deaths
Sources: CSSE / Johns Hopkins University, as of November 5, 2021, 10:21 am;
Robert Koch Institute, as of November 5, 2021, 3.10 a.m.
Research news
Molnupiravir: Great Britain approves pill for Covid-19 treatment
The British Medicines Agency approves the corona drug molnupiravir.
It is considered to be particularly promising because it can be taken as a pill.
The first study results were positive.
What else was important
Vaccination theses by Richard David Precht: Who is Dr.
Confused and if so, how many really?
The talk show regular guest and bestselling author Precht has crashed intellectually and is now gossiping on the corona topic at "lateral thinker" level.
Because many people think he's wise, that's a danger.
Nine people, nine stories: You were not vaccinated - now you have changed your mind
Millions of Germans have not yet been vaccinated against Corona.
Here men and women report what has happened so far.
And why they get the syringe after all.
Case in the district of Cuxhaven: Forensic medicine examines connection with corona vaccination after the death of a twelve-year-old
Has a boy from Cuxhaven died as a result of a corona vaccination?
The case causes a stir - the exact background is still unknown.
An overview.
Corona vaccine: Biontech wants to examine allegations against study
An ex-employee accuses a research institute of having worked improperly in the clinical vaccine studies by Biontech / Pfizer.
Experts do not see the effectiveness in question.
Historians take stock of the epidemic: "Corona is an absolute stroke of luck for historiography"
The fourth wave is rolling - nevertheless Malte Thießen has already written a Corona story.
Here the historian explains why we could learn little from previous epidemics.
And what helps against future crises.
Have a nice weekend
Yours Michail Hengstenberg
