The former chairman of the Federal Commission for Vaccinations (CFV) Christoph Berger would today act in an ‘even more reserved’ manner when it comes to recommendations for vaccination against Covid-19. In hindsight, he would communicate differently.
‘Naturally, people wishing to be vaccinated should be able to do so. But recommendations aimed first at saying that one must be vaccinated to protect others and not oneself are proving difficult, Mr Berger said in an interview on Sunday in the SonntagsZeitung. ‘During the pandemic there was certainly resistance because of this as well.’
Today, Mr. Berger would ask himself more the following questions: ‘Which recommendations are no longer necessary and how can you return to a normal life?’ As long as many elements had not yet been clarified, ‘he would think and communicate more in terms of scenarios’.
However, Christoph Berger believes that at the start of the pandemic the measures were justified. They have, he said, made it possible to avoid deaths among the population at risk. The expert further notes that Switzerland then quickly ended the restrictions, which allowed it to move forward more quickly compared to neighboring countries.
Side effects to take seriously
During the second winter of Covid, the differences in treatment between vaccinated and non-vaccinated became ‘always more difficult’ to maintain towards people with a low risk of complications, according to the specialist in infectious disease and hospital hygiene at Zurich University Children’s Hospital.
‘With hindsight, we could perhaps have put an end to this more quickly (the difference in treatment, editor’s note), once people at risk had the opportunity to be vaccinated and the effect of the vaccine on the transmission was less.’
In addition, Christoph Berger invites people who have suffered complications from the vaccine to be taken seriously. Announcements regarding these issues should be evaluated, and the harm caused should be acknowledged, if any.
‘Clarifications are underway on this subject at federal level. Until they are completed, those affected unfortunately have to show a lot of patience,’ adds the specialist, who further specifies that ‘side effects after a vaccine are very rare’.
The presidency of the CFV is now exercised by a quasi-homonym of Christoph Berger, namely Christoph Tobias Berger from Basel.
/ATS
