German health minister appeals to people to be vaccinated – SME.sk

BERLIN. German Health Minister Jens Spahn warned at a press conference in Berlin on Monday that by the end of this winter, most Germans who have not been vaccinated against the new species coronavirus, are likely to become infected, and some of them will die as a result of COVID-19.

The AP and AFP agencies informed about it.

“Probably by the end of this winter, as is sometimes cynically said, almost everyone in Germany will be vaccinated (against covid), cured or dead,” Spahn said.

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The number of cases has increased significantly

According to him, “a very contagious variant of the delta” is responsible for the unfavorable pandemic situation. “That’s why we so strongly recommend vaccination,” he said.

“There is a very, very difficult situation in many hospitals,” Spahn said. Several hospitals have warned that intensive care units are almost full and that some patients need to be transferred to other clinics.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), 30,643 new cases of infection have occurred in Germany in the last 24 hours, a significant increase from last week, when health authorities reported 23,607 new cases.

Spahn also told reporters that Germany expects the EU to approve anti-drugs vaccines for children aged 5-11 at the end of the week.

He added that the EU will start distributing modified vaccines for children on December 20, with Germany receiving 2.4 million doses first.

68 percent of the country’s population is fully vaccinated, which experts say is too little to keep the pandemic under control.

Moderna doses are in danger of expiration

Spahn therefore called on all adults who received the second dose of the vaccine more than six months ago to be vaccinated with the third booster dose.

The minister stressed that the vaccine from Moderna is “good, safe and very effective,” writes the DPA agency.

In a letter addressed to the Länder, the Ministry of Health announced in the coming weeks the limits on the number of vaccine doses ordered from the Pfizer / BioNTech consortium, which the people of the Federal Republic prefer to Moderna. Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines account for up to 90 percent of all orders.

The ministry justified this by saying that if Moderna’s vaccines were not increasingly used for third doses, there was a risk that stored doses of these vaccines would expire in the first quarter of 2022. However, Spahn added that “there are enough vaccines available for all the upcoming vaccinations.”

“Both vaccines (Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna) are effective,” he said.

According to Merkel, the measures are not enough

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that she did not consider the current measures aimed at combating the coronavirus sufficient to stop the massive fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DPA reported, referring to sources from the participants in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) presidency in Berlin.

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“The situation is very dramatic – the current rules are not enough,” said the incumbent chancellor.

“We have a situation that goes beyond everything that has been here so far,” she said. rule 2G, ie entry to certain areas only for vaccinated and cured covid.

According to Merkel, the number of infected doubles every 12 days. She stressed the need to quickly stop the exponential growth in the number of new infections. She noted that many people do not seem to be aware of the seriousness of the current situation.

Merkel emphasized the importance of vaccination – but this is not enough to stop the disease at present, as it is more effective than a long-term tool to combat the pandemic.

The Länder have introduced stricter measures

Gernot Marx, chairman of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), has also called on politicians to prepare for further restrictions on 9 December if the package adopted last week does not produce the desired results.

He called the situation “very worrying”. He pointed out that there are more than 3,670 patients in intensive care units in Germany, with almost 1,200 added last week. In some regions, such as Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony, hospitals are already congested and have to postpone planned operations there.

For this reason, they have introduced stricter measures in several Länder.

All cultural and cultural events in Saxony have closed since Monday sports facilities, nightclubs, clubs or discos, tourism is prohibited, alcohol consumption in public and unvaccinated people are not allowed to go to hairdressers or shops selling other than basic goods. As in Bavaria, the Christmas markets have also been closed there.

Last Thursday, the federal government agreed that only vaccinated, cured, or negative people would have access to the workplace. The same rules apply at national level as in public transport, AFP recalls.

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