Infection numbers are falling: Spahn: "That's not enough yet"

Friday 29th January 2021

Infection numbers are falling
Spahn: "That's not enough yet"

Although fewer and fewer Germans are infected with the corona virus, the bumpy vaccination start and the mutations make an end to the lockdown unlikely. Health Minister Spahn is still spreading hope: by summer there should be vaccination doses for all Germans.

Despite the slow start to the vaccination campaign, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn has reiterated the goal that all Germans should be offered a vaccination by the end of the summer. "We are currently seeing a positive trend," said Spahn. He admitted that the vaccination start was not without problems. With a view to the dispute between the EU and the British-Swedish vaccine manufacturer Astrazeneca, the minister said that the deliveries of the vaccine doses must be fair.

Contrary to Spahn's view, the President of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Klaus Cichutek, is expecting unrestricted approval of the vaccine by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the course of the day. As a vector vaccine, the vaccine has a few advantages in terms of storage, according to Cichutek. "You are an important contribution to fighting the pandemic." The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) had previously advised against vaccinating people over 65 with the vaccine.

Cichutek admitted that the data situation for older people was somewhat weaker. Still, Astrazeneca's vaccine is approved on the basis that the benefits are greater than the risks. Spahn had previously said that he did not expect unrestricted approval of the vaccine. The data situation is insufficient for this.

Many questions about mutations unanswered

According to Spahn, the development of the infection rate in the country also gives hope. The number of new infections reported continues to decline, the seven-day incidence is below the value of 100 for the first time in a long time. This proves that the current restrictions are having an effect. Nevertheless, Spahn restricted: "That's not enough." The numbers should continue to fall.

The President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, dampened the euphoria in view of the falling number of cases at least in one point: According to Wieler, the 7-day incidence is currently only falling in the four most severely affected federal states – including Saxony and Thuringia . In the other federal states, the situation is largely unchanged. Too many people still contracted the virus.

In addition, the virus mutations continued to cause concern for the RKI, said Wieler. "We don't yet know whether they are more dangerous, nor do we know whether people who have already been infected or have been vaccinated can develop the new variants." Wieler warned that further spreading of the variants would likely worsen the infection situation significantly in a short time. "The intensive care units are still very busy. The intensive care units would definitely not be able to cope with a new strong increase in the number of cases at the moment."