D.he North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet calls for more speed in vaccinating against the corona virus. You have to get down from the vaccination bureaucracy, get faster and also vaccinate on weekends, said the CDU chairman on Tuesday evening in an ARD “Extra”. Laschet admitted that suspending vaccinations with Astra-Zeneca had set back plans. But he emphasized that if there were warnings from science, politics should take advice. “We are waiting for the decision of the European Medicines Agency on Thursday. Then Friday is the vaccination summit, where we discuss together among the 16 countries. “
Because of possible health risks, vaccinations with the Astra-Zeneca substance in Germany have been suspended since Monday. This had also led to the cancellation of the vaccination summit, which was actually planned for this Wednesday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected to issue a recommendation on the safety of the vaccine on Thursday.
Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz hopes for a positive signal from the EMA. At the same time, the SPD politician emphasized in a ZDF “special” that politics should not ignore the advice of scientists. Nevertheless, the vaccine available will soon increase in number. In June / July there could be “maybe” ten million vaccine doses per week in Germany. Then everything must be prepared and clarified what vaccination centers, what family doctors and what company doctors can do. That has to be discussed and planned in detail. Therefore, the vaccination summit is “very important advice.”
Drosten warns again of a drastic increase
The virologist Christian Drosten regretted the vaccination stop with Astra-Zeneca. At the moment, the main thing to remember is that “we need this vaccination”, the Charité scientist emphasized on Tuesday in an NDR podcast. The epidemiological situation is currently not good in Germany. The more contagious virus variant B.1.1.7 is becoming more and more prevalent, its share is now three quarters. “Shortly after Easter we will have a situation like around Christmas,” said the virologist. It will be particularly “tricky” for the largely still unvaccinated age groups aged 50 and over.
“The suspension of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine maximizes the damage to the image that the German vaccination strategy suffers from right from the start,” said the federal chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, Ulrich Weigeldt, to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Vaccination is and remains a question of trust”. Anyone who wants to regain people’s trust must ensure that those who have been vaccinated recognize the meaning of vaccination for themselves and for society. There are individual risks with every vaccination. It is crucial that “the benefits clearly outweigh the risks”. General practitioners could explain this to their long-term patients better than “anonymous vaccination centers”.
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Kubicki: Spahn and Almaier dismissed
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki suggested to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) the dismissal of Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) because of his actions in the Corona crisis. “There are only a few months left until the election, but replacing Spahn as health minister would help to create new trust in the state among the population,” said Kubicki to the editorial network Germany. “The performance of Mr. Spahn as Minister of Health can only be rated with a five or a six. Spahn is not up to his task. ”Germany did not protect the old people’s and nursing homes in time, Spahn relied too late on protection through masks, and he also failed with the test and vaccination strategy, according to the FDP politician.
“Peter Altmaier should also dismiss the Chancellor from his position as Minister of Economics,” added Kubicki. “Altmaier did not manage to bring the promised help to the self-employed in even an approximately bearable time.” This policy of procrastination continues with the Corona hardship fund.
Green parliamentary leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt also attacked Spahn. “With the uncoordinated and poorly communicated suspension of vaccinations with Astra-Zeneca, Health Minister Spahn has further undermined confidence in the vaccination policy,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. Spahn and the government should now “put a plan on the table as to how the protection through vaccinations can be increased quickly”, demanded Göring-Eckardt.
Juso boss Jessica Rosenthal accused Spahn of a “total communication failure” in connection with the suspension of the Astra-Zeneca vaccinations. “His approach not only damages trust in the vaccine, but also in the political decision-makers,” said Rosenthal of the “Rheinische Post”.
The head of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban, took Spahn and Altmaier under protection. Both would be “held responsible for things for which they are not responsible,” Kuban told the Funke newspapers. Altmaier “jumped into the breach when the economic aid was paid out because Finance Minister Scholz and the federal states ducked away,” said Kuban. Buying and organizing the tests is the responsibility of the federal states. The dissatisfaction of the citizens with the corona management is fueled “by quarrels and unfriendly treatment in the federal government”, accused the JU head of the SPD.
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