“Horror visions of all kinds did not come true,” appeals to the virologist Hendrik Streeck at Merkur.de to all those unwilling to be vaccinated. The Bonner continues to call for vaccinations, but warns against too high a frequency.
Munich – For many Germans, the fourth vaccination against the corona virus * is now pending. A fifth could follow in the not too distant future – once the special Omicron vaccine is expected to be available in May. But how many spades a year are actually healthy from a virological point of view?
At Merkur.de , the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck expresses concerns about this. It is important to remember: “The vaccination schedule of our vaccines is approved for two vaccinations. The booster definitely helps. However, I am skeptical about very frequent and high-frequency vaccinations against the same variant over and over again.” Streeck warns of “immunological phenomena” that could occur, “that we have not had before and are poorly researched in vaccinations”.
How often do we all have to vaccinate against Corona? Streeck warns of “phenomena that we haven’t had before”
The virologist continues: “We are talking about the development of tolerance, i.e. a kind of hyposensitization. But fatigue of the T-cell responses is also possible, or the original antigen sin of the immune system, which – to put it simply – can arise when the immune system forgets how to recognize differences in the virus. This is of course all theoretical, because nothing has been researched so far. To be clear, this does not occur after the third vaccination.”
Nevertheless, vaccinations are likely to come up again and again in the autumn periods for certain risk groups. Streeck thinks this makes sense: “It’s like the flu. But that certainly does not apply to the general population.”
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Streeck’s three vaccination arguments for all unvaccinated
Streeck appeals to the still numerous unvaccinated people in the country and names three decisive advantages. The strongest argument par excellence is that vaccination offers excellent protection against a severe course. Because – even if a severe course is less likely as a younger person, it can happen. I’d rather go into an encounter like this with a bulletproof vest than unprotected. The immune system is prepared for this fight with a vaccination.” Secondly, the vaccines are safe. You can see that in the more than a billion people who have been vaccinated. “Horror visions of all kinds did not come true,” said the virologist. Point three: “Even if your own immune system is strong, it can still happen that you get long-term damage from an infection. Vaccination minimizes this risk.”
However, the 44-year-old has so far rejected compulsory vaccination, even if the new omicron subtype could lead to a small dent in the soon to be expected falling number of infections.
In the Merkur.de interview, Streeck called on politicians to find new ways of easing new restrictions and gives an outlook for the summer and autumn of 2022. ( mke ) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
