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Berlin (dpa) - In view of the beginning of the third corona wave in Germany, the virologist Christian Drosten regrets the developments around Astrazeneca with suspended vaccinations and scarce delivery quantities.
At the moment, the main thing to remember is that “we need this vaccination”, emphasized the Charité scientist in the “Coronavirus Update” podcast (at NDR-Info).
The epidemiological situation is currently not good in Germany.
The more contagious virus variant B.1.1.7 is becoming more and more prevalent, its share is now three quarters.
"Shortly after Easter we will have a situation like around Christmas," said the virologist, also with a view to the gloomy prognoses of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) from a few days ago about a feared sharp increase in the number of new infections.
Drosten expects the situation to become "drastically more difficult" because of the mutant.
It will be particularly “tricky” for those aged 50 and over who are largely still unvaccinated.
Drosten had already issued this warning before.
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In Germany, the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which is responsible for vaccine safety, recommended suspending vaccinations with Astrazeneca.
According to information from the Ministry of Health, a total of eight cases of thrombosis (blood clots) in the cerebral veins in connection with the vaccination were reported in Germany by Tuesday evening.
The number of cases is therefore statistically significantly higher than in the population without vaccination.
According to the PEI, those affected were mostly women.
Whether there is a causal relationship between vaccination and thrombosis is currently being investigated.
About the accumulation of rare thromboses within a short period of time, Drosten said that "of course you have to take it seriously and look at it".
This also includes looking for other possible causes.
Drosten said he did not want to evaluate the decision and did not have any background information.
However, the virologist warned that the problem could possibly also be a statistical problem: In Germany, people under 65 years of age had been vaccinated with Astrazeneca because there was initially no recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission for the elderly.
In England, however, older people were preferably vaccinated with it;
Despite a higher number of vaccinations, no such thrombosis accumulation was observed there.
Drosten referred to a high proportion of women among the medical and nursing staff who received the drug in Germany.
He asked: "Could it be that this colors the statistics?"
Problems with thrombosis are generally more common in women.
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In several studies on variant B.1.1.7 discovered in Great Britain, Drosten drew the balance that the virus had not only become more transmissible, but also more dangerous.
“And that's not good news, especially in these times and in this current news situation”.
The studies provided further evidence that the variant is more deadly.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210317-99-852574 / 2
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