Heidelberg pathologist insists on more autopsies of vaccinated patients
Monday, August 2, 2021
The chief pathologist at Heidelberg University, Peter Schirmacher, is pushing for many more autopsies of vaccinated people. In addition to corona deaths, the bodies of people who die in temporal connection with a vaccination must be examined more frequently, Schirmacher told the German Press Agency.
The director of the Institute of Pathology in Heidelberg warns of a high number of unreported cases of vaccination deaths and complains that pathologists are unaware of most patients who die after or possibly as a result of vaccination. However, other scientists contradict him on this point, as does the Standing Commission on Vaccination (STIKO) and the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI).
For a year now, corona deaths have been autopsied at university hospitals in the southwest in order to better understand the disease. The state supports COVID-19 autopsy research at the university pathologies with about 1.8 million euros.
Schirmacher is leading the autopsy project. Findings from more than 200 autopsies so far have led to better treatment and ventilation of COVID sufferers, among other things, he says.
The physician now wants to increasingly get to the bottom of rare, severe side effects of vaccination - such as cerebral venous thrombosis or autoimmune diseases.
The problem as he sees it: vaccinated people usually don't die under clinical observation. "The coroner does not establish a context with the vaccination and certifies a natural death, and the patient is buried," Schirmacher reports. "Or he certifies an unclear manner of death and the public prosecutor's office sees no external fault and releases the body for burial."
In Baden-Württemberg, pathologists therefore work together with public prosecutors, the police and established doctors, reports Schirmacher. More than 40 people have already been autopsied who died within two weeks of vaccination, he said.
Schirmacher assumes that 30 to 40 percent of them died from the vaccination. In his view, the frequency of fatal vaccination consequences is underestimated - a politically explosive statement at a time when the vaccination campaign is losing momentum, the delta variant is spreading rapidly and restrictions on non-vaccinated people are being discussed.
Schirmacher has received strong opposition from other scientists. The statements that too little is currently known about side effects and that the dangers of vaccination are underestimated are not comprehensible, the Paul Ehrlich Institute said.
In particular, for serious reactions, which include when a person dies after a vaccination, there is a reporting requirement under the Infection Protection Act, it said. "I know of no data that allow a justifiable statement here and do not assume a dark figure," said the head of the Permanent Vaccination Commission, Thomas Mertens.
For the assumption of a high dark figure of vaccination complications or even deaths there is no reason, stressed also the immunologist Christian Bogdan of the University Hospital Erlangen. "Nor can there be any question of neglecting possible dangers of COVID-19 vaccines." The last few weeks and months in particular have shown that the surveillance system is working well, he said. In Germany, for example, the rare occurrence of cerebral venous thrombosis after vaccination with Astrazeneca (1-2 cases per 100,000 vaccinations) was recognized as a complication at a very early stage, Bogdan says.
Schirmacher insists. "Colleagues are definitely wrong about this because they are not competent to judge this specific question," he responded. He does not want to spread panic and is by no means an opponent of vaccination, says the professor, who says he himself has been vaccinated against Corona. Vaccination is an essential part of the fight against the virus, he clarifies.
But one must weigh the medical reasons for vaccination on an individual basis, he says. In his view, the "individual protection consideration" is overridden by the idea of quickly vaccinating society.
The Federal Association of German Pathologists also urges more autopsies of vaccinated persons. This is the only way to exclude or prove connections between deaths and vaccinations, says Johannes Friemann, head of the association's autopsy working group. However, in his view, there are still too few autopsies to speak of an estimated number of unreported cases. "One doesn't know anything yet."
Family physicians and health offices would have to be sensitized. The states would have to instruct the health offices to order autopsies on site. The Federal Association of Pathologists had already demanded this in March in a letter to Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).
It remained unanswered, Friemann says. © dpa/aerzteblatt.de
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