German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Monday that it is important for other at-risk people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus before the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Lauterbach, himself an epidemiologist by training, said the rate of adoption of newly adapted improved shots designed to combat existing COVID-19 variants has been very disappointing.
With three weeks to go until Christmas Day, Lauterbach said it’s “the optimal time” for other people known to be vulnerable to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
This would allow the vaccine to take full effect before the large social gatherings and travel that take place at Christmas, he said.
Germany’s Standing Commission on Vaccination recommends an annual booster vaccination for people at higher risk of developing severe disease.
The minister stated that the infection is not just a chronic disease and that the virus remains a real risk for people with chronic diseases.
“Right now, the danger posed by COVID is underestimated,” he said.
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Lauterbach speaks after a meeting about the long-term effects of the coronavirus on fitness with representatives from fitness, medicine and science.
“The challenge of long COVID is still resolved,” Lauterbach said.
There were about 1,700 new infections along with 100,000 others in seven days, Lauterbach revealed.
The updated coronavirus vaccine is specially adapted to the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant.
Nicknamed the Kraken, the subvariant became prevalent earlier this year and caught virologists’ attention because it contains more mutations to evade immunity than other variants seen so far.
XBB. 1. 5 has more powerful binding functions with the receiver of the target host, increasing its propagation.
Lars Schaade, head of German public fitness company Robert Koch Institute, said the current level of infections is not as significant as it was at the height of the pandemic. This, he said, is due to increased basic immunity through past infections and vaccination.
rc/rt (AFP, AFP)