BHealth Minister Karl Lauterbach expects the number of corona infections to increase even more, but is relying on further everyday restrictions and more vaccinations to contain it. The strategy is to slow down and stretch the omicron wave and to boost as many people as possible with booster vaccinations during this time, said the SPD politician on Friday in Berlin.
The pandemic is now “in difficult waters” in Germany. More people would have to be treated with infections, hospitals would be more heavily burdened. At the same time, the restrictions that were already in place were having an effect – for example with a longer doubling time for the number of infections. In addition, there are now even stricter access rules for vaccinated and recovered people with additional tests (2 G plus) in the catering trade.
The goal now is “to make a hill out of the otherwise expected steep wall of infection numbers or that the wall is not that high,” said Lauterbach. However, it is a special problem in Germany that there are many unvaccinated people in the particularly vulnerable group of older people.
He sees no reason for additional tightening of everyday restrictions. From his point of view, “the right package of measures is in place at the moment,” he said. However, if the number of cases increases significantly and medical care is expected to be overloaded, other countermeasures must also be taken. “We’re not at that point.” The wave with the new Omikron variant can still be mastered with accelerated booster vaccinations. However, controls and the comprehensive implementation of existing restrictions are necessary.
The minister explained that the capacities for PCR laboratory tests were approaching “full load”. There is currently no shortage. With a view to free tests from the quarantine, he has now arranged for health workers to have priority in the PCR test evaluation in the laboratories. The President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, made it clear that in the case of a 100% omicron wave, it is no longer so important to check the exact virus variant. The test use is generally changing continuously, experts know how to deal with it. If a capacity limit is reached, then you focus the effort.
Lauterbach maintains that his ministry does not want to submit its own proposal for general vaccination. His house had to do the groundwork for all members of the Bundestag who worked out motions. “I can’t do that if, as a minister, I also have an official opinion,” says the SPD politician. As a member of the Bundestag, however, he says: “I am in favor of compulsory vaccination without any ifs or buts. I am in favor of compulsory vaccinations from the age of 18.” This primarily serves as a precautionary measure for the fall. He wanted to spare everyone “that we are then again faced with the question of whether we need a lockdown”.
In the case of corona infections, the omicron variant will have completely replaced the delta variant in a few days, according to Wieler. Due to the mass of infections, one has to be prepared for the fact that the number of hospital admissions and deaths will increase again, says Wieler. So far, the deaths have not increased again: “But that will change.”
The virologist Christian Drosten, for his part, warns that the population in Germany is already being infected. Three million people over the age of 60 have not yet been vaccinated, almost nine million have not been boosted and are therefore not fully protected against the omicron virus variant, he says. But at some point you have to “let the virus run” because you can’t keep vaccinating the population.