If Germany succeeds in quickly organizing booster vaccinations against the coronavirus for half of the population, the fourth wave of infections could probably be broken.

Because according to the current state of knowledge, the third vaccination offers significantly higher protection than the second.

This emerges from a statement that several scientists have drawn up around the head of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Viola Priesemann.

The authors include the Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek, the Munich virologist Ulrike Protzer, the sociologist Armin Nassehi and the Erlangen virologist Klaus Überla, who is a member of the Standing Vaccination Commission, as well as other scientists.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for “Bildungswelten”.

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They urge politicians and organizers not to rely on testing or vaccination alone before vaccination has progressed.

Even 2-G and 3-G restrictions no longer seem sufficient to scientists.

It is true that fewer infected people then come to an event;

after all, the incidence in vaccinated people is currently four times lower than in unvaccinated people.

A rapid test can also detect half to three quarters of infectious people.

However, it is warned in the strategy paper that not using masks can negate the advantage of 2G over 3G.

If vaccinated and convalescent people are also tested, the risk of an outbreak is reduced again compared to 2 G or 3 G, as fewer infectious people then attend an event.

Do not do without masks

The likelihood of being infected indoors is high anyway, and it increases due to a high density of people or poor ventilation.

This applies not only to indoor catering or discos, "but also to receiving guests in private apartments, as well as meetings and meetings at work".

In simulations, the researchers found that a self-test before 40 percent of all meetings could at least stabilize the current infection dynamics, if all vaccinated participants participated and if everyone isolated themselves with a positive test.

If all of this does not lead to a significant reduction in the number of infections, there must be an "emergency circuit breaker" that bundles as many measures as possible, i.e. brings short but strict restrictions. From the researchers' point of view, this includes home office and tight test obligations at the workplace, smaller groups in kindergartens, schools and in the office, the closure of shops, restaurants, services and events as well as a significant reduction in contacts at work, in public and in private . "If you achieve an R value of 0.7, then the number of cases is halved every week."

The researchers once again emphasize the crucial role of masks in curbing infections with the dangerous Delta variant. "The external protection is extremely high because the large drops remain in the mask and the small aerosols are greatly reduced." The same applies to the wearer's own protection. Since the risk of infection "in the breath jet of an infected person" is very high, one could become infected after a few minutes when inhaling indoors without an FFP2 mask. “A person-to-person transmission in close proximity, when both are wearing an FFP2 mask, is massively reduced compared to a situation without a mask,” say the scientists, by at least a factor of ten. If the mask fits very well, "infection is extremely unlikely," the statement said.The researchers advise against a general vaccination requirement.