German disease control boss warns of fifth wave without more measures

Berlin (dpa) – The head of Germany’s disease control body has warned that the country could face further waves of Covid-19 infections unless more people are vaccinated.

“If minimizing social contacts and raising vaccination rates do not significantly improve the situation, current modelling suggests we will also face a fifth wave of infections,” Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control, told dpa.

Germany is currently grappling with a fourth wave of cases, with the country facing a national emergency, Wieler said recently.

He told dpa what people do now would determine the situation this winter, calling it a shame that more had not opted for these comparatively easy steps.

He reiterated his call for people to avoid large-scale gatherings and events held indoors.

Wieler also said that preventive action was needed in states that are not as badly affected, saying contact restrictions could prevent numbers from rising.

While Wieler called for a massive increase in vaccinations, he also said this alone would not be sufficient, and restricting contacts was also important to prevent case numbers from rising faster.

“The vaccine is the way out of the pandemic,” he said. However, he underlined that while jabs provide a very, very high level of protection, there was no 100-per-cent protection. “Protection against infection is not as high as protection against severe disease,” he said.

The RKI is calling for high numbers of people to be inoculated, proposing at least 85 per cent of 12 to 59-year-olds and 90 per cent of seniors aged 60 and up should be fully vaccinated.

His comments echoed those of the head of Germany’s standing vaccination committee (Stiko). Stiko chairman Thomas Mertens said a fifth wave of cases was possible in comments to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. “How strong it will be depends largely on how many people get vaccinated and boostered,” he said.