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Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn has rejected criticism of the pace of corona vaccines that have just started in Germany and the amount of vaccine available. At the same time he defended in a live interview. image-Zeitung the European route taken when buying the vaccine. “It’s tight for everyone,” said the CDU politician. Germany ordered many vaccines. “The absolute quantity requested recently to change the quantity that is at the beginning, at the beginning when it is scarce.” Germany expects more than 130 million doses of vaccines from the manufacturers Biontech and Moderna. “That alone would be enough in the next year to offer anyone who wants to get vaccinated.”
Spahn emphasized that Germany had made a conscious decision to “go the European route” when acquiring the vaccine. This also prevents re-negotiating bilaterally with manufacturers in parallel. “If you say we’ll do something together, I won’t start doing something on my own.” Germany buys all the doses of vaccine that other countries in the EU quota do not take. He is very curious to see if they will not criticize him in a few months for “we have too much vaccine.”
Spahn called the debate over whether people vaccinated against the crown should receive certain privileges, such as access to restaurants, as “absolutely correct and important.” There is a difference between state action and public services of general interest and the private-commercial sector. He was “divided from side to side on the issue,” Spahn admitted. “I think we shouldn’t regulate too much there.” However, he added that it was unclear whether people who had been vaccinated could continue to infect others. That makes “a very decisive difference.” Recommend waiting for findings. In the public sector and in services of general interest, for example in hospitals, town halls or local public transport, from his point of view it is not possible to distinguish between vaccinated and unvaccinated people, Spahn said.
Coronavirus mutation detected in NRW
The coronavirus mutation, which was initially detected in Britain, has now been shown to have reached North Rhine-Westphalia. “The State Health Center was informed by telephone yesterday afternoon by the RKI that the known coronavirus mutation in Great Britain had been detected in a person from the district of Viersen and therefore for the first time in North Rhine-Westphalia “the North Rhine-Westphalia Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The local health department is now investigating the case with the new additional information.
As announced by the Viersen district, the infected person was a 58-year-old man who became ill in early December and has since recovered. The man was not infected in Great Britain, but from a colleague from the Czech Republic. In recent days, the mutated variant of the coronavirus B.1.1.7 had also been detected in patients from Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony. According to scientists, it is significantly more contagious than the previously known version.
Hospital Society Warns of Financial Obstacles
The German Hospital Society is sounding the alarm in light of crown-related operational restrictions: “If the federal government does not significantly increase aid, national clinics will no longer be able to pay their employees’ salaries in the first quarter of 2021 “said the president of the Society of Hospitals, Gerald Gaß, the publishing network of Germany. “The money for standard care is missing.” The hospitals had limited financial resources.
Two-thirds of all clinic operators expect losses in 2020 as a whole, as shown by the current hospital barometer of the German Hospital Institute (DKI), the one in Berlin Daily mirror (Tuesday) is available. Eighteen percent of the nearly 2,000 clinics with 1.3 million employees rate their current financial situation as good.
In mid-December, the federal government put in place a new rescue package for hospitals. According to the concept of the Ministry of Health, they receive compensatory payments in areas particularly exposed to the crown if they forego interventions that can be postponed and thus keep free beds. Of this, however, only 25 percent of clinics are registered, Gaß explained. The president of the association suggested that the clinics should receive their budget on a monthly basis based on 2019 and that they should be billed precisely at the end of 2021.
RKI reports 12,892 new infections and 852 deaths
German health authorities reported 12,892 new corona infections in 24 hours. In addition, there were 852 more deaths, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Tuesday. These numbers are only partially comparable with the values of the previous week, as the RKI expected fewer tests and fewer reports from health authorities by the end of the year. Still, the number of deaths was less than 731 cases a week ago. On December 23, a maximum of 962 deaths was registered. The number of new infections a week ago was 19,528.
The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants (incidence of seven days) reported to health authorities in seven days was 149.2 on Tuesday morning. Its previous high was reached on December 22 at 197.6. However, the differences between federal states are huge: the highest incidences on Tuesday were Saxony with 364.7 and Thuringia with 273.7 the lowest value had Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 77.2.
Since the start of the pandemic, the RKI has counted 1,664,726 infections detected with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany (as of December 29, 00:00). The total number of people who died from or involved in a proven Sars-CoV-2 infection rose to 30,978 on Tuesday, while the RKI indicated that the number of people who recovered was around 1,277,900.
According to the RKI report on Monday, the national seven-day R-value was 0.74 (Sunday: 0.83). This R value means that 100 infected people infect another 74 people. The value represents the onset of the infection eight to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a long time, the infection process subsides. In its report, however, the RKI emphasizes that during the holidays and at the turn of the year corona cases are only shown, recorded and transmitted late, “so the R-value can also be underestimated.”
Criticisms of the vaccination appointment allocation system
Karin Maag (CDU), health policy spokesperson for the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, has criticized the appointment of corona vaccines. “It can’t be that you start a vaccination campaign and then can’t get an appointment,” said the member of the Bundestag from Stuttgart. Augsburger Allgemeine. She tried in vain to book a vaccination appointment for her 85-year-old mother through the national patient service at 116117. She was referred to the cell phone app of the same name. “But dating is not activated in the app yet.”
These are “rookie mistakes,” Maag said. “That annoys me”. According to the newspaper, the Federal Ministry of Health said that federal states were responsible for vaccinations and appointments. “That is a country issue,” said a spokeswoman. According to her, the federal states can use the appointment system behind the patient number, but it is not necessary. Some countries wanted to send the appointment assignment to their own systems in 116117.
RKI: more than 18,000 people vaccinated
A day after the official start of vaccinations against the coronavirus, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) published the first figures of the campaign: According to this, more than 18,000 people have already been vaccinated. The total number of vaccinations on Monday morning was 18,454 (without Hesse, data as of December 28, 2020, 8:00 am).
At the start of the campaign, residents of nursing homes and nursing homes, people over 80 years of age, as well as medical staff and caregivers in homes and clinics will be vaccinated. Corona vaccines officially started in Germany on Sunday. From time to time, however, people had already been vaccinated on Saturday.
Spahn against the special rights of vaccinated people
The Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU), has spoken out against the special rights of vaccinated people. “Many wait in solidarity so that some can get vaccinated first. And those who have not yet been vaccinated hope that those vaccinated will be supportive patients,” Spahn told the Funke media group newspapers on Monday.
“No one should claim special rights until everyone has had a chance to get vaccinated.” This mutual respect holds the nation together. “We are fighting the pandemic together, and we will only overcome it together.” Over the weekend, vaccinations against the corona virus began in Germany. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) also spoke out against special rights.
Ramelow and Schwesig expect restrictions to be extended
Regardless of the start of nationwide vaccination, Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) assumes that the strict crown restrictions currently in place will have to be extended beyond January 10. “If the prime ministers consult again on January 5, there will be no signs of relaxation,” Ramelow told the Germany publishing network (RND) on Monday. It is “too early to give the go-ahead”. He is preparing “that we have to live with restrictions until March,” said the left-wing politician.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) also expects the shutdown to be extended. “We have to be well below an incidence of 50 to be in better waters again, and that will be a long way off,” he said. image-Talk about “The Right Questions” on Sunday night. The vaccine gives hope and confidence but should not make you reckless, the prime minister added.
The head of the chancellery, Helge Braun, also considers probable an extension of the blockade of the crown beyond 10 January. “I hope that on January 5, when we meet next time, we cannot assess everything accurately and therefore we will have to continue with the lockdown,” Braun said in an interview with RTL / ntv.
Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) also spoke in favor of extending the harsh blockade in early January. The current infection figures are misleading, he told RTL / ntv. His impression is “that people have withdrawn a lot during Christmas.” But New Year’s Eve worries him. “I am very concerned that New Year’s Eve will be celebrated. That must be stopped urgently.”
The seven-day incidence, which indicates the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, is currently 157.8 nationally. Current restrictions nationwide with the closure of stores, schools and kindergartens are currently limited to January 10.
