Virologists like Christian Drosten and other scientists see Omikron as an opportunity to get out of the coronavirus pandemic. Now the WHO is also providing an assessment.
Munich/Copenhagen – Christian Drosten has long been considered the great admonisher in the coronavirus pandemic*. But, like many other scientists, the virologist from the Berlin Charité apparently hopes that the omicron wave with hundreds of thousands of corona infections in Germany alone* represents an opportunity against the virus .
“The population builds up immunity and keeps it,” Drosten said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel in mid-January. Shortly thereafter, he explained at the federal press conference in the government district in Berlin: “We will not be able to vaccinate the entire population every few months in the long term in order to obtain population immunity. The virus itself has to keep people’s immunity updated.” Omicron * as an opportunity? He is not alone in this opinion.
Omicron as an opportunity from the corona pandemic? Christian Drosten and other virologists are confident
The former head of the global influenza program for the World Health Organization (WHO) was also confident. “In England, Omicron brought almost four times more cases, but also reduced the probability of becoming seriously ill by about half. These scissors lead us back to normality. Because it shows that the virus is doing what we expected,” Klaus Stöhr recently told the Munich newspaper Merkur about the effects of Omikron on the corona pandemic.
Omicron as a way out? The World Health Organization (WHO) has now also provided an assessment of this omnipresent issue. Three coincident factors give Europe the prospect of a possible “ceasefire” in the fight against Sars-CoV-2 , said WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, at an online press conference in Copenhagen. These factors are therefore :
Omicron as an opportunity from the corona pandemic? WHO names 3 factors of hope
- The large number of vaccinations and natural immunizations administered by Omicron.
- The approaching end of winter with usually more disease infections.
- The lower severity of the disease of the Omicron variant – means relatively less severe courses despite comparatively many more corona infections.
“We should see this period of higher protection as a ‘ceasefire’ that could bring us lasting peace,” explained Kluge and warned: “We shouldn’t waste this opportunity. Any breathing space must be used immediately to empower health workers to return to other essential health functions to reduce the care backlog.”
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According to the WHO Regional Director, during the hoped-for breathing space, vaccination must be pushed ahead and newly emerging variants must be closely monitored in order to prepare for possible future waves. There is now a chance to herald an “endgame”. Kluge appealed for the available vaccines to be sufficiently distributed in all countries: “Let 2022 be the year of vaccine justice,” he said. The wave of the highly contagious omicron variant in Europe is currently still rolling rapidly from West to East.
In one week alone there were 12 million new corona cases that were largely attributable to Omikron, WHO expert Kluge said. Almost a third of all Covid 19 cases since the beginning of the corona pandemic have been registered this year alone. (pm/dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
