Horst L. is deeply insecure. The 71-year-old Limburger, who does not want to read his name in the newspaper, was vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the early summer of this year. Now he fears that he will suffer a breakthrough in vaccination if he is infected with the coronavirus. A few days ago, the pensioner had his antibody level determined by his family doctor and received disturbing news: he has only a few antibodies in his blood. At a time when the number of new infections is increasing, the doctor's advice sounds as simple as it is alarming: Horst L. should please be careful. The Limburger will still only get an appointment for a booster vaccination with his doctor in three weeks, because the rush for the booster vaccinations continues unabated. The vaccine, on the other hand, is scarce.

The chairman of the Hessian Pharmacists' Association, Holger Seyfarth, also knows this.

Nevertheless, he made it clear on Monday that the fourth wave of the corona pandemic could not be brought under control with the existing vaccination capacities.

"In particular, older patients who have been completely vaccinated since spring now have so few antibodies that they suffer more vaccination breakthroughs," said Seyfarth, reporting on numerous patients who urgently needed a booster vaccination but only received late appointments in their doctor's offices.

He demands that the Hessian pharmacists may vaccinate in the future.

"Broad knowledge of vaccinations" available

“There are pharmacies everywhere, also open on Saturdays, and their teams have extensive knowledge of vaccinations,” he describes the advantages, pointing out that in countries like France vaccinations have been in pharmacies since the summer.

Seyfarth also calls on the federal government to provide enough vaccine.

“Anyone who calls on people to vaccinate has to provide a reliable vaccine,” he explains.

Less federal vaccine was delivered this week.

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, it has not yet been determined whether more cans will arrive in Hesse again next week.

According to the current state of affairs, Hesse's students should not again be the victims of a corona policy, which is increasingly coming under criticism.

“We reject the plan to bring the Christmas holidays forward,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture on Monday when asked and added: “Moving forward is nothing more than closing the school through the back door, and politicians have now agreed several times that the Schools stay open. "

If at all, the spokesman continued, school closings should only be considered as the very last option if there is a lockdown for society as a whole.

Only then could students not meet in other places and become infected there.

"Otherwise school closings have no effect."

It could be, however, that the cards will be reshuffled on Tuesday, because the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will meet with the Prime Minister of the federal states and the likely future Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) at 1 p.m. to discuss a decision by Federal Constitutional Court to speak about the Corona emergency brake.

It will also be about further measures in the Corona crisis, and a new lockdown could also be up for discussion.

Then Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) wants to present stricter rules for Hesse in the afternoon.

Hesse's Ministry of Education and Culture is also observing the infection process in schools in the state very closely and is currently seeing a "moderate" increase in positive tests.

Nevertheless, it is still true that every day 99.9 percent of the Hessian students tested negative, it said from the ministry.

Results of the suspected cases on Wednesday

Hesse's Minister of Social Affairs Kai Klose (Die Grünen) announced on Monday that further cases would be investigated in which there was a suspicion that people had been infected with the new Omikron variant.

A jet from Cape Town, South Africa, landed at Rhein-Main-Airport on Monday as well.

The head of the Frankfurt health department, Peter Tinnemann, therefore called for stricter entry rules on the Hessischer Rundfunk.

So far there has been one confirmed case of infection with the Omikron variant in Hesse.

Travelers who tested negatively can be quarantined in their own apartment or in other suitable accommodation.

In the case of those who test positive, the responsible health department decides whether they have to go to a hotel in order to be isolated there.

The Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek is investigating the suspected cases for the new coronavirus variant.

As Ciesek announced, the so-called sequencing is still ongoing.

The result of the four suspected cases will be available on Wednesday.

When asked whether there were plans to close the Christmas markets, which are still being held in numerous Hessian cities under Corona rules, the Ministry of Social Affairs replied: "The infection dynamics require further measures, in particular contact restrictions on both state and state is advised at the federal level. "Klose described the contact restrictions as the most effective measure to reduce the rate of infection.

"In the opinion of the minister, further contact restrictions are necessary in a timely manner due to the stress on the hospitals and the dynamics of the infection," said a spokesman for the ministry.

Pensioner Horst L. has now found a pragmatic solution: his son-in-law had an earlier booster vaccination appointment with his family doctor.

He has now given it to Limburger so that the Christmas dinner together doesn't have to be canceled again this year.