Comments by "Immudzen" (@Immudzen) on "German leaders agree to new omicron measures | DW News" video.

How does this impact people that are not supposed to get their 3rd shot yet? I had my second shot in late August and from what I can see I am not supposed to get the booster until late February (6 months). If possible I will try to get the booster in early February.
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This is the part I am confused about also. I am supposed to get my booster in late February, and I don't know how these rules apply to me yet.
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@LDNpat Thank you. I will go get an appointment immediately for my booster.
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The vast majority of Germans are following the rules. In the town I am living in I have not seen a single person not wearing a mask inside stores or yelling at employees about not wearing a mask. People just put on the mask correctly and go about their lives.
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The vaccines and boosters are free. In Germany it is a simple appointment in smaller areas or just showing up to the larger vaccination centers in larger areas. It takes very little time or effort to get vaccinated and boosted and has a large positive impact on public health. Most of the people in Germany are very rational and if getting a shot every 4-6 months is what it takes for life to return to normal then that is what they will do.
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@ThePakophan You are correct they are not free. However, the cost when spread over the society is quite cheap per person. Research has also been pretty clear at this point that even people that recover from covid have a much higher death rate over the following year and likely much longer. The vaccine protects against that also. We also need to keep people from getting seriously ill because it takes up too many hospital resources. If continuing to get boosters solves these problems I am all for it.
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If we have to get 1 shot even 4-6 months for life to return to normal that is fine with me. Getting the shot is a minor thing and in Germany it is easy to show your vaccination status with an app on your phone. The vaccines are doing a great job of cutting short and long term illness from the virus.
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@griffith2934 The shot does protect for longer than that for serious illness but the protection is not as good as with a booster. Basically, the Omicron wave is expected to be so bad that any additional help they can get right now is essential. In other areas of the world hospitals have already overloaded and we have not even hit the peak of the wave yet.
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@griffith2934 So far as I have read here the flu season is basically not happening in Germany to any real extent. The mask requirements for going to stores and other places was never lifted. It seems to be pretty effective at cutting it down. Some of the Germans I have talked with just expect mask wearing to be the new normal like it is in many asian countries.
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I am living in Germany right now working on a PhD and I don't think it is depressing at all. Most things are open if you are vaccinated. People did not lose their jobs. They did not lose their houses. They did not lose their healthcare.
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@etbuch4873 I am living in a small town in western Germany not far from Aachen. The cases here have remained low for pretty much the entire pandemic. People are just following the rules and it has worked.
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@etbuch4873 Ah sorry. I don't actually know much about Berlin. I have never been there. I know in larger cities there is more pushback against restrictions but since I don't live in them it is hard to tell how much it is.
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