The numbers are shocking: In Germany, the proportion of vaccinated corona patients in intensive care units has increased. As newspapers from the Funke media group report, 119 of the 1,186 corona patients who had to be “treated in intensive care” from mid-August to early September were vaccinated against the virus. This corresponds to a rate of just over ten percent.
The data come from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). According to the RKI, this is due to the sharp rise in the number of people vaccinated overall. In the meantime, more than 65 percent of the population in Germany have been vaccinated twice against the virus. Therefore, the RKI expected an increase in vaccination breakthroughs.
“It is to be expected that more vaccination breakthroughs will be recorded over time, as more and more people are vaccinated and Sars-CoV-2 is currently spreading again. This increases the likelihood of coming into contact with the virus as a fully vaccinated person, ”says the RKI report.
What does vaccination breakthrough mean?
Despite a full vaccination, you may be infected with the coronavirus. If this develops into a disease, it is called a vaccination breakthrough.
Despite a full vaccination, you may be infected with the coronavirus. If this develops into a disease, it is called a vaccination breakthrough.
Severe courses in people over 80 years of age
However, the increase in vaccination breakthroughs does not automatically mean that the vaccination is not working. Not at all. “The fact is that vaccinations protect and a lack of vaccination protection is the main reason why people with a Covid 19 infection need intensive medical treatment,” writes the German Ministry of Health.
The President of the Association of Intensive Care and Emergency Physicians (Divi), Gernot Marx, also emphasizes how important a vaccination is. “The patients with severe and fatal corona courses are in almost all cases unvaccinated.”
The vaccination breakthroughs with severe courses, on the other hand, are still in the single-digit percentage range. In addition, the vaccination breakthrough usually affects people whose immune system has been weakened by chemotherapy or permanent cortisone treatment or people who are older than 80 years.
Breakthroughs in vaccination are also registered in Switzerland
In Switzerland, too, infection with the coronavirus can occur despite a complete vaccination. The Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) has been recording these numbers since the end of January 2021. According to the BAG, 3,697 fully vaccinated people have contracted the virus since then. As of mid-October, 617 fully vaccinated people had to be hospitalized and 123 died despite the corona vaccination.
The FOPH assumes a “considerable number of unreported cases” of vaccinated people who become infected but neither get tested nor need medical treatment. With regard to the vaccination rate and the total number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the FOPH rates vaccination breakthroughs as very low. The data of the BAG can also be read outthat Moderna’s vaccine protects against vaccine breakthroughs better than Pfizer / Biontech’s. (oco)