Omikron: "Let yourself be boosted and the world will be good again"? Virologist Ciesek skeptical

There are alarming observations from South Africa about the Corona variant Omikron. Virologist Christian Drosten dares to make an assessment. The news ticker for Omikron.

Update from December 15, 12:16 p.m .: What can we hope for from boosters when it comes to Omikron? The virologist Sandra Ciesek warns of excessive expectations. A booster vaccination is also not one hundred percent protection against infection, she said, according to AFP, in a video link today.

“At the moment I have the feeling that the message is: Let yourself be boosted and the world will be good again. That is not the case. ”She referred to cases of already boosted people who had infected themselves and other people. Caution should be exercised, especially in contact with risk groups.

Experts assume that the protection of vaccinated people from severe Omicron disease is likely to be better than protection from infection, for example Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (update from December 15, 10:01 a.m.) .

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Update from December 15, 10:47 a.m .: Ursula von der Leyen * shares Lauterbach’s opinion (see previous update) . The first data would show “that this triple vaccination is the best protection against Omikron currently available worldwide,” said the EU Commission President in front of the Strasbourg Parliament.

However, she expects the new Corona variant to be the predominant one in Europe by mid-January. The politician emphasized that the EU had sufficient corona vaccine for all Europeans, both for basic immunization and for booster vaccinations.

Health Minister Lauterbach tweeted the German Omikron study

Update from December 15, 10:01 a.m .: How to deal with the impending Omicron wave? Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) reiterated his appeal for the booster vaccination * and retweeted the immunologist Leif Erik Sander. An important study by the Berlin Charité and University of Cologne now shows that with the new Corona variant, only the refreshment offers protection against infection. But the dates are hopeful, he wrote

Update from December 14th, 9.45 p.m.: According to a new study from South Africa, two vaccinations with the Biontech vaccine protect against severe courses even with the Omikron variant. The double vaccination therefore offers 70 percent protection against a severe course that requires hospitalization. However, the protection against infection is generally significantly lower than with other variants. Accordingly, in the case of Omikron, the vaccination only protects 33 percent from infection.

Update from December 14th, 3:40 p.m.: A British expert sees signs that the Omikron variant could spread even faster than previously assumed. First of all, it was assumed that the number of infections with the variant would double within two to three days, said the chief medical advisor to the British Health Authority (UKHSA), Susan Hopkins, on Tuesday.

Omikron: British expert suspects even faster spread

“At the moment, it seems that this growth rate is shorter than it is longer.” She is concerned about how many people become infected every day and anticipates very difficult weeks. Richard Neher, head of the research group Evolution of Viruses and Bacteria at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, warned on Twitter that conclusions should not be reached too quickly if the number of Omikron cases in a country supposedly no longer increases as quickly as it did at first.

In view of the very high number of cases, it is likely that test capacities would reach their limits and there would be delays in reporting cases, he wrote. In an interview published by his university on Monday, Neher said that Omikron will soon have displaced other variants such as Delta across Europe. If development continues as before, Omikron will be dominant in Europe in about two to four weeks. The transmission rate is three times as high as with Delta. The reason for this is that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people become infected.

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Corona variant Omikron: Norway prohibits alcohol in restaurants and pubs

Update from December 14, 12.25 p.m.: In Norway, alcohol is taboo in restaurants, pubs and hotels over the holidays. From this Wednesday (December 15) on, there will be an absolute ban on serving for four weeks – including Christmas and New Years. The aim is to reduce social gatherings and thus ultimately to counteract the spread of the omicron variant. In addition, there are stricter rules for public events, organized leisure activities and in cultural life.

There are great concerns about rapid omicron spread in Norway. As a list updated on Tuesday by the health institute FHI showed, at least 1176 Omicron infections have now been detected in the Scandinavian country with more than five million inhabitants.

Omikron is spreading “incredibly quickly” in Germany

Update from December 14th, 11:10 a.m.: According to Daniela Behrens (SPD), the Omikron variant will also spread quickly in Germany. “We are assuming that we will have Omikron as the predominant variant in Germany at the end of January and beginning of February,” said the Lower Saxony health minister on Tuesday in the health committee of the state parliament in Hanover.

Omikron is spreading “extremely fast”. Behrens emphasized that the corona vaccines used also worked against the new variant. However, it is still unclear whether the intensity of two vaccinations is sufficient for the immune response. The minister also stated that the Christmas rest planned in Lower Saxony was primarily intended to contain the Omikron variant. From Christmas Eve to January 2, the state tightened the corona rules – regardless of the then current indicators. Lower Saxony is thus going a separate way.

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Corona variant Omikron: “How well a person is protected depends on various factors”

Update from December 14th, 9:20 am: “Omikron has definitely arrived,” confirmed Jörg Timm, virologist at the University Hospital Düsseldorf, in a conversation with Welt . The new Corona variant is spreading very quickly. “We see a doubling time of about three days,” explained Timm. In addition, the immunity is “drastically weakened” by antibodies at Omikron. Studies by the virologist Sandra Ciesek’s work group have shown that, among other things.

“How well a person is protected from Omikron depends on many different factors – for example how old he is and how long it was since the last vaccination,” said Timm. “The risk of infection is really increased, and for people without a basic immunization, this is a problem,” says the virologist. Booster vaccinations are therefore “currently extremely important”.

If the vaccinations and test strategies do not prevent the rapid spread of infections, according to Timm, there are currently only contact restrictions. It is therefore important that the proportion of people without immunization be reduced quickly. They are particularly prone to severe gradients. “Unchecked contamination of the still far too large number of unvaccinated people will overload the health system, as we have seen with Delta in the past few weeks,” explained Timm.

Corona variant Omikron: Infected at the dance festival in Münster

Update from December 13, 10:31 p.m.: At a dance festival in Münster, a corona outbreak occurred despite strict rules. 14 people are infected with the virus. According to the Office for Communication of the City of Münster, these include three confirmed Omikron cases. It is still unclear whether these cases are actually confirmed by genome sequencing. Only vaccinated and convalescent patients were admitted to the event, and the participants also had to submit a negative test.

Corona variant Omikron: Suspected case in Munich school class

Update from December 13th, 8:54 p.m.: An entire fifth grade and four teachers have been in quarantine at a Munich high school since last Friday. A student previously tested positive for the virus. Now there is even a suspicion of an omicron infection. The responsible district office says: “The quarantine measures are currently purely a precautionary measure.” All those affected would be kept up to date and informed as soon as there is more information.

Corona variant Omikron: British study shows that vaccines have a weaker effect

Update from December 13th, 4.30 p.m.: The corona vaccines available so far from Biontech and AstraZeneca are apparently weaker against the omicron variant than against the delta form of the virus. At least that was the result of a so-called preprint study by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

To put it simply: The team, led by scientist Nick Andrews, analyzed population data from Great Britain. According to the news magazine Spiegel, the scientists found the omicron variant in 581 study participants / patients with symptomatic corona infections. The data were then evaluated. The team found that the protection against symptomatic infections had dropped to 34 percent 15 weeks after a second dose of Biontech.

The investigation by the authority also showed, reports Der Spiegel , that booster vaccinations significantly increase protection against symptomatic infections. Two weeks after a booster vaccination, the protection increased to over 70 percent – both with the administration of the Biontech vaccine and with AstraZeneca.

Corona variant Omikron: Significant increase in coronavirus infections in Great Britain

Update from December 13th, 2:15 p.m.: Great concern about Omikron now also in Great Britain. The British Ministry of Health reported a sharp increase in reported infections with the coronavirus variant on the island this Monday.

“It’s spreading at phenomenal speed. We have never seen anything like it, ”said Health Minister Sajid Javid. According to the information, the corona infections – presumably due to the mutant – would double every two to three days. According to the ministry, 40 percent of all new corona cases registered are due to Omikron.

Even more: The broadcaster Sky News reports, citing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, that a Covid-19 patient died for the first time after an Omicron infection. Britain had fully reopened its society in the past few months and dropped all corona restrictions. Recently, however, the numbers rose again significantly between Glasgow, London and Cardiff.

Corona variant Omikron: Biontech boss Uğur Şahin advertises booster vaccinations

Update from December 13th, 1 p.m.: Because of the recent omicron variant of the coronavirus, Biontech boss Uğur Şahin has spoken out in favor of a booster vaccination just three months after the second vaccination.

“With regard to Omikron, two doses are not yet a completed vaccination with sufficient protection,” said Şahin in an interview with the news magazine Spiegel : “If Omikron continues to spread, it would make scientific sense to offer a booster after three months . “

Corona variant Omikron: Virologist Christian Drosten warns of mutation

Update from December 13, 12.35 p.m.: Virologist Christian Drosten warns of the Corona variant Omikron. He fears that the mutation could increase “in a very short time” in Germany.

“My gut feeling tells me: The omicron virus will be our problem until summer,” said the scientist from the Berlin Charité in the NDR podcast “The Corona Update”. And said: “If Omikron takes over, the pandemic in Germany will not be over by Easter.”

The omicron virus will be our problem until summer.

Corona variant Omikron: Worrying mutation is closely monitored

First report from December 13th : Munich / Berlin – It’s the next bulky term in the global coronavirus pandemic: Omikron. In the Greek alphabet, the omicron is the 15th letter. In the Corona crisis, on the other hand, Omikron is the next mutation that worries science and medicine. And that is why it is observed very closely.

In particular, the development in South Africa is literally under the microscope, because there the variant was discovered for the first time at the beginning of November 2021. On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified Omikron as a worrying variant of corona. Because: A higher infection rate is assumed for the mutant B.1.1.529 than for previous mutations.

Corona variant Omikron: In South Africa, a number of infected children have to be hospitalized

The latest development from South Africa is also worrying. Scientists and doctors from the local health authorities said, according to FOCUS Online , that the number of hospital admissions for small children has increased significantly.

However, it does not necessarily mean that children are particularly at risk from this variant of the insidious coronavirus, it said.

The New York Times reports on a hospital in the poor settlement of Soweto in the industrial metropolis of Johannesburg, where twelve children have to be hospitalized. So three would get oxygen. It should be pointed out to the poverty-stricken conditions in the area. What does this mean for Germany and Europe? What can be deduced from the observations? Doctors, scientists and politicians are investigating this question these days. (pm) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

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