Booster vaccination for over 60s
Inpatient admissions increase due to corona infections
At Magdeburg University Hospital, patients are again increasingly being admitted to the Central Emergency Department due to corona infections. In the summer of 2022, during the Omikron wave in the Central Emergency Department, corona infections were detected as incidental findings by the regular corona examination, while the patients were admitted for other reasons, such as accidents.
The Head of the Central Emergency Department, Chief Physician Dr. Tobias Hofmann states: "Recently, there has been an increase in appointments and inpatient admissions due to corona infections. The patients are unable to breathe and are so weakened that they have to be admitted as inpatients. Predominantly, these are older patients for whom the last vaccination was given some time ago." The Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommends that elderly people aged 60 and older, regardless of other pre-existing conditions, receive a booster vaccination again with a Corona vaccine.
Professor Verena Keitel-Anselmino, director of the University Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, recommends, "Because the protective effect of the vaccination diminishes over time, we recommend a timely booster for those over 60 with the Corona vaccines adapted to Omikron. This can even be done at the same time as the flu vaccine."
If infection does occur despite vaccination, there is the option of drug treatment with paxlovid tablets for the first 5 days after the onset of symptoms. This is recommended for patients with risks of a severe course such as old age or the presence of risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, immunodeficiency/suppression, chronic renal failure, cancer, heart or lung disease. This can often prevent severe outcomes with hospitalization. However, potential interactions with their long-term medication must be considered. Physicians in private practice have recently been authorized to dispense the drug paxlovid directly to patients.