Health Minister Kim was interviewed by ZDF- “Heute Journal” on Wednesday. Lauterbach said that if Omikron becomes your predominant variant, everyone who has already been vaccinated twice will have to be vaccinated again. Now then the complete vaccination protection will be achieved. Finally, the moderator asked the minister about the danger to children from Omikron:
Question:
Above all else, you have always been very careful about children and have said: We are allowed to corowell don’t play it down with children, but they now have a Stiko boss who saysI would rather not vaccinate my children. It’s harmless to children. As Minister of Health, what do you think of this now in this new position?
Answer Lauterbach:
So that was an unfortunate positioning of Mr. Mertens. I think he was also quoted out of context. The following can be said very clearly: We have to assume that the Omikron variant in particular is particularly threatening for children. Unfortunately, this is so that the Omikron variant not only spreads faster, but unfortunately also affects children more heavily and thus leads to more hospital admissions. That means we have to stop by here.
I hope that we will come to a stiko assessment of the vaccines very soon. In the age group of 5 to 10 year olds and among the elderly it is so, personally speaking now as a scientist, I believe that vaccination is the better choice compared to disease.
Fact check:
The statement by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach that the Omikron variant is particularly dangerous for children and has led to high hospitalization rates is obviously not backed up with facts. Lauterbach apparently refers to a study from South Africa and its reception in the Indian media. According to the virologist Klaus Stöhr, with whom the Berliner Zeitung spoke on this topic, the study was published in advance on December 5, and excerpts were subsequently published at a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 7th. presents.
The very limited data from the study would suggest that the course of the disease might be milder. This is concluded because a large number of patients, including many children and adolescents, only tested positive for Corona when they were admitted to the hospital, but were actually admitted for other reasons. The proportion of asymptomatic and mild diseases is therefore apparently much lower according to initial observation than in the previous waves. The “Corona” finding was therefore a secondary finding.
The representation children are more affected by Omikron, go past the data situation. The Indian media are also very cautious about drawing conclusions here. The current data worldwide say nothing reliable about the danger of the variant or the degree of hospitalization. Stöhr: “From my perspective, there is no evidence from the preliminary data that even comes close to the conclusion that children are affected by severe courses at Omikron.” The same applies to adults.
Stöhr emphasizes the necessity that the plus 50-60 year olds and vulnerable people should be boosted completely independently of the Omikron variant. “The fresh booster vaccination helps against Delta and also refreshes the defense against Omikron. The vaccination priorities do not change. “Says Stöhr:” It’s like the flu vaccination: People over 60 and vulnerable should get a refresher every year at the beginning of winter. This is the best way to reduce the burden of disease, i.e. deaths and hospital admissions. The other vintages can also benefit from the booster this year; the younger the more marginal. ”Lauterbach had announced on ZDF that, should Omikron become the predominant variant, complete vaccination protection would only be accepted if someone had been vaccinated three times.
Conclusion:
the expression of the Minister of Health that Omikron is particularly dangerous for children wrong against the background of the facts known today.