Corona-News: Study on the Omikron variant: Biontech vaccination protects 70 percent against severe disease – Wüst: No carnival meetings in North Rhine-Westphalia

According to a large-scale study from South Africa, two doses of the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer appear to offer significant protection against serious illnesses during the omicron wave there. The research, published by South Africa’s largest private health insurance company Discovery Health, is based on more than 211,000 positive test results between November 15 and December 7, of which about 78,000 were traced back to the new virus variant Omikron. So a double Biontech vaccination offered one 70 percent protection against severe gradientsrequiring hospitalization and from 33 percent before infection.

The study authors, however, raised concerns that it was preliminary results from the first three weeks of the Omikron wave in South Africa, which could change with its expansion. The study concluded that that Risk of re-infection during the fourth wave in South Africa was higher than with previous waves. At the same time, the risk of hospitalization for adults is 29 percent lower than in the first wave at the beginning of last year. With children, however, the risk of hospitalization seems to be 20 percent higher than in the first wave, but the absolute frequency is very low.

Individual reports from hospitals in South Africa suggested that most Covid-19 diagnoses in children hospitalized were found by chance. Many children who have been hospitalized for other illnesses test positive on routine screening tests. The analysis by Discovery Health also shows that the risk of children testing positive was significantly lower than that of adults. “Children were 51 percent less likely to test positive for Covid-19 during the Omikron period than adults, and the overall risk of children being hospitalized for Covid-19 complications remains low,” said Discovery Health expert Shirley Collie.