Germany’s Covid narrative is not supported by government data
Politicians and health officials in Germany are calling for more severe lockdown measures and mandatory vaccination. They claim, that the unvaccinated are driving the pandemic and - as a consequence - Germany is rapidly approaching disaster. The latest weekly Covid report published by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a governmental institution, disproves their claims.
An effective vaccine should stop infection or at least prevent hospitalization and death. The RKI data demonstrates, that the current Covid vaccines are failing with regard to all aspects.
In the 4-week period covered by the RKI report, 139,856 symptomatic Covid infections among the fully vaccinated were reported. 4,590 infections led to hospitalization, 544 to ICU treatment and 602 to death.
Despite of this, the RKI – like other health authorities around the world – does not call it vaccine failure. Instead, it uses the euphemism vaccine ‘breakthroughs’, as if this represented a major scientific achievement.
Vaccine proponents argue, that vaccine effectiveness wanes, but a booster shot every few months provides a fix. According to the RKI, over 6.6 million Germans have already received a booster shot. Most of these shots were most likely given to the elderly. However, among those 60 years and older, the share of infections, hospitalizations and deaths was much higher than among younger age groups.
The RKI does not disclose, how many fully vaccinated Covid cases have received a booster shot. Official data from Israel shows, that even those, who get a booster, can end up in hospital and die. We don’t think that the situation in Germany is much different. If it was, why wasn’t it highlighted by the RKI? There is more and more evidence emerging, that even booster shots can’t compensate for waning vaccine effectiveness.
Vaccine proponents also contend, that compared to the unvaccinated, there are much less cases among the fully vaccinated. In view of the fact, that 68% of Germans are fully vaccinated, their share of 48% in infections, 44% in hospitalizations, and 50% in deaths suggests indeed, that the vaccine provides at least some protection.
However, before jumping to any conclusion, we have to consider the following aspects:
1. Cases among partially vaccinated individuals
2. Benefits of early treatment
3. Vaccine adverse events
The RKI statistics omits many vaccinated individuals. To count as a breakthrough case, the RKI requires, that the last dose of a vaccination series (1 dose is for Johnson & Johnson, 2 doses for all other products) must have been administered more than 14 days ago. A positive Covid test after only one dose, or with the second dose received 14 days ago, does not count as a breakthrough case.
Some medical research suggests, that individuals are more vulnerable shortly after vaccination. To disprove this, the RKI should have published infection, hospitalization and death data of whose, who only received only one dose or the second one less than 15 days before being infected. Are they hiding something?
Many medical studies show, that early treatment with a cocktail of cheap, safe and readily available medicines can considerably reduce the risk of severe Covid. Unfortunately, health authorities and hospitals around the world (including Germany) actively discourage and even prohibit their use.
If the unvaccinated were given such medicines, their hospitalization and death risk would drop. To be sure, the same medicines could also be given to the fully vaccinated reducing their risk as well. But the latter would not be necessary, if the vaccines did their job of fully protecting the vaccinated from infection, hospitalization and death.
The unvaccinated only have one Covid related risk, the virus itself. The vaccinated have two risks, the virus and adverse vaccine effects. Omitting the latter from the evaluation process will result in wrong conclusions. In a previous blog
we have already established, that there are many adverse vaccine reports in Germany, but that the responsible organization, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI), shows no inclination to do a proper follow-up.
Without additional data on the three topics above, we can’t conclude, that the vaccines reduce the risk of Covid. The opposite might be true. Without a proper and fully independent analysis, we will probably never know.
Does the RKI data support the claim, that the unvaccinated are driving the pandemic? Certainly not. It is intuitive and also proven by medical research, that fully vaccinated individuals can transmit the virus, especially if they are symptomatic. To call the situation in Germany a pandemic of the unvaccinated is unfounded, especially in view of almost 140,000 fully vaccinated Covid spreaders within a 4-week period.
Does the RKI data at least support the assertion, that Germany is rapidly approaching disaster? No. Covid does not pose a major risk to children and teenagers, and only some risk to adults under the age of 60. Most people ending up in hospital have underlying health conditions. The hospitalisation and death numbers are so low, that no lockdown or vaccine mandate can be justified by them. Otherwise, there should be lockdowns and enforced vaccinations for many other infectious diseases such as the seasonal flu and tuberculosis.
Elderly people are much more at risk. But even among them, the death rate is not 20% or 40%, but about 2.2%. Focused protection and early treatment could reduce this rate further. Eventually only those with an impaired immune system would die, and they would not only die from Covid, but many other viruses as well.
The RKI report demonstrates, that there is no pandemic of the unvaccinated and that the highly praised Covid vaccines fail to do their job. It also shows, that Covid is not a super deadly disease for the general population. Fear-mongering and focusing all attention on Covid contradicts the facts. We have to learn to live with Covid, as we have learned to live with many other diseases.