Germany warned that a fourth Covid vaccine is needed in order to prevent the spread of Omicron contagious variant.
Karl Lauterbach is the health minister and has pledged his support for a vaccination mandate. He has ordered 80 million doses of Biontech’s Omicron vaccine. They should arrive in Germany by May.
The new vaccine Novavax was approved by him. He also ordered 4million doses and 11million doses for the Valneva shot.
Germany warned Karl Lauterbach, the health minister of Germany (pictured), that the fourth Covid vaccine was needed to stop spread of Omicron’s contagious variant.
Lauterbach announced that the Novavax shots would arrive in the country by January.
According to the minister of health, an offensive booster campaign would be the best building block against Omicron.
“The protection level against severe COVID-19 symptoms following a booster shot has been very high. He said that he would guess it is well above 90%.
Lauterbach stated that it was impossible to control future waves of infections without a mandate for vaccines.
Lothar Wieler (president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases) stated that Omicron would be the main cause for coronavirus infection in Germany within three to four weeks.
RKI chief Lotharwieler said that Christmas shouldn’t be the ignition for the Omicron fire. People should also limit their contact to an absolute minimum.
The trend was clear, he said. It takes about 3 days to double a case. The new variant can account for over half of all the infected people in the country.
German officials reached an agreement on Tuesday to limit private gatherings, prohibit discos and close night clubs, and bar spectators from football matches beginning Dec. 28.
Germany recorded 45,659 coronavirus new cases Wednesday. This is 5,642 less than one week ago. However, the death toll rose by 502.
Germany is introducing new measures to reduce the spread and severity of the coronavirus, including the restriction of private gatherings of vaccinated persons to no more than 10 before New Years Eve. Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated Tuesday.
Following the Omicron surge new restrictions on walking in Bremen have been imposed.
Omicron has been identified as the predominant coronavirus form in the United States, England and Scotland. Although the wave of coronavirus-related infections in Germany is slowing down, officials claim that the rate is much higher than it was previously.
Lauterbach has ordered that vaccination centers be open throughout the holiday season, citing a “unique opportunity” to keep an eye on cases.
Moderna is currently the primary booster campaign. Germany uses the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.
So far 70.5 percent of Germany’s 83 million population has had their first dose of vaccines. Officials, who had expected at least 75 per cent, are not satisfied.
33.6 Percent have had booster shots. This number is rapidly growing, with an average of 1.1 million shots being administered per day over the last week. It’s the highest rate of pandemic activity so far.