With vaccinations and recoveries from COVID-19 pushing Germany closer towards herd immunity, a top doctor has expressed optimism about the future, saying he expects the pandemic to be over by next spring. 

“Corona will end in spring 2022” 

“I assume that corona will end in spring 2022,” said Andreas Gassen, head of the National Association of Health Insurance Physicians, to the Rheinische Post, adding that his assessment is also shared by a number of prominent scientists. 

He said that the vaccination rate will continue to rise by spring, and above all the number of people who have recovered from COVID - and therefore will have antibodies - will continue to increase. “Restrictions will then probably become completely unnecessary,” Gassen said. 

Rising infections in autumn shouldn’t threaten German healthcare

He conceded that, in the meantime, infections will most likely rise again in the autumn, but he does not see “in the medical profession any major concerns that the health system could collapse.” He expects the number of serious illnesses to remain way below the level seen last winter: “So a little more serenity would be advisable without becoming reckless.” 

Gassen also expressed that he was in favour of there being “no more general, mandatory measures” for people in Germany in the near future. Instead, he said people should decide for themselves “what they want to do voluntarily to protect themselves, for example whether or not to wear a mask.”