Schwerin (dpa/mv) – In preparation for the expected corona autumn wave and in view of the already high number of infections, Minister of Health Stefanie Drese (SPD) convened the state’s Pandemic Expert Council for next Tuesday. The committee includes scientists such as the Rostock tropical medicine specialist Emil Reisinger and the Greifswald bio-informatician Lars Kaderali, representatives of the hospitals and the medical profession as well as municipal and social associations, as a ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Representatives of the state government and the state office for health and social affairs were also present.
The committee is to meet three times by the end of August, analyze the situation and make suggestions on how to deal with the situation. According to the spokesman, the country’s Corona Expert Council met in May. The number of infections has been rising again for some time. At the beginning of the week, the seven-day incidence of new infections was 541.7. The key seven-day incidence of hospital admissions rose from a low level last week, standing at 3.8 on Monday.
Health Minister Drese appealed in particular to older and previously ill people whose last vaccination was a few months ago to be vaccinated again against the corona virus in the summer. A first or second booster vaccination protects against severe courses, she explained. The vaccine, which has been adapted to new variants of the virus, will not be available until autumn, but Drese believes that risk patients should not wait that long. Mobile vaccination teams are to offer vaccinations in nursing and old people’s homes from late summer.
