“Neither my family doctor nor my internist could give me a satisfactory answer,” wrote one reader. Therefore, she now turns to the OÖNachrichten. She is one of numerous readers who contact OÖNachrichten every day. They have many questions. The topic is the fear of the new omicron variant, of thrombosis and of allergic reactions to a vaccine.
There is great uncertainty; fears and scientific facts taken out of context often shape the public discussion. Together with a team of experts, the OÖN therefore discuss the letters from the readership. This time Bernd Lamprecht, Head of the Clinic for Pulmonary Medicine at the Kepler University Hospital, answered the mailings.
You can address your concerns to us at any time. Write to us leserbriefe@nachrichten.at
Lamprecht answers
I have been vaccinated three times, my doctor said that there has been no need for immunization for a year. How do you assess this statement? Especially now because of the omicron variant? – Maximilian Stein, email
Bernd Lamprecht: The patient is well protected. But with regard to Omikron, it looks like the vaccines currently available are not likely to be as effective as the other Corona variants. The changes that have occurred here in the spike protein suggest a reduced vaccination effectiveness. However, specialists assume that vaccination protection against serious illness is given. In the coming year we will have vaccines adapted to Omikron, they will be available in the second half of the year.
If you received your third Pfizer sting on December 12th, can you safely start an allergy injection regimen on December 21st? – Edith Vierhauser, email
If such therapies are carried out on a regular basis, i.e. at regular intervals of several weeks, then it would be ideal if the vaccination could take place fairly precisely in the middle between two such administrations. But if it is only a one-time therapy, you should keep about 14 days apart if possible.
Allergy sufferers are advised to observe a slightly longer follow-up period after the vaccination. Not the 15 minutes usually recommended, but rather 30 minutes.
My brother is 67 years old and very athletic, but has had three pulmonary embolisms in the past few years. Now he is afraid of thrombosis when he is vaccinated. – Maria Schaub, Linz
There is only a very small increased risk of so-called blood coagulation disorders with vaccinations. However, the risk of such a disorder is many times higher with the actual virus infection. In this respect, no particular concern is necessary here, but vaccination is undoubtedly the safer way, which is also very likely not to be accompanied by such an illness. A vector vaccine has been found to have a slightly higher risk than the messenger vaccines that are now being used.
It’s been a while since I had my second vaccination. Now I’ve read that one side effect can be myocarditis. Should I see a cardiologist now? – Max Ritter, email
It is correct that such inflammations are described in studies in connection with the vaccinations. I would always recommend comparing actual events, either vaccination with a very low risk of mild myocarditis or the other situation, unprotected infection with the possibility of serious illness. And then severe myocarditis can also occur. A visit to the cardiologist is not necessary, but can provide security.
If I have received the first and second partial vaccinations with the Pfizer vaccine, does it make sense to do the third trick with Moderna? Or should I stay with Pfizer? – Christine Kern, email
If someone has had the first two vaccinations with the messenger RNA vaccine from Biontech-Pfizer, they can use the same vaccine again for the third vaccination. If you want, you can switch to another vaccine, for example from Moderna. But that would not be necessary.
Crossing is not absolutely necessary in this situation, the situation is different if you were initially vaccinated with vector vaccines such as AstraZeneca, then the booster should be done with a messenger.
Since 2015 I have suffered from immune thrombocytopenia (reduced number of blood platelets as a result, note). Should I get vaccinated and with which vaccine? – Anonymous, email
In principle, it is important to know how high the number of blood platelets, or thrombocytes, is in general. If this is not so low that something would speak against the vaccination, i.e. serious bleeding is to be feared here, there is no danger from the vaccination.
Quite the opposite: there is good protection against having to suffer a real and serious viral disease with this vaccination. This would then have far more unfavorable effects, which can ultimately have a serious effect on the blood count.
Source: Nachrichten
