Who ordered it? The CSU accuses Karl Lauterbach of “dubious” vaccination communication. The FDP sees it very differently – and warns of a vaccination problem at the request of Merkur.de.
Berlin / Munich – Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has already given the all-clear. But Germany is still not quite sure how the interim vaccine alarm from the health department should be assessed – especially since further doubts about the corona plans of predecessor Jens Spahn (CDU) arose on Friday.
Upon request from Merkur.de Health experts from the FDP and CSU saw the vaccine starting point for Lauterbach very differently: The Munich CSU MP Stephan Pilsinger accused Lauterbach of having unnecessarily unsettled the population. At the same time, further questions arise about the German vaccination campaign. For example, whether compulsory vaccination even makes sense in view of a precarious infrastructure. Or also to what extent large re-orders for vaccine doses are hindering vaccination progress in other parts of the world. The emergence of the Omikron variant in South Africa recently highlighted this problem.
Vaccination dispute: CSU attacks Lauterbach – “population completely unnecessarily unsettled”
In any case, Pilsinger defended Spahn’s work – and reprimanded Lauterbach’s communication as “dubious”. Lauterbach had “unnecessarily” unsettled the population, said the member of the Bundestag on Friday (December 17th) Merkur.de. “It would have been legitimate to say that 58.3 million adults in Germany are currently vaccinated twice. Of these – as of today – 24.2 million people have been boosted. That’s 41.51 percent! ”For those who have not yet been third-vaccinated, another 34 million booster doses would be available in the next four to six weeks. “Enough for everyone”, stated Pilsinger.
The current high numbers of booster vaccinations are “not the miracle of Mr. Lauterbach, but only possible through forward-looking planning and vaccination orders,” emphasized the CSU politician. Spahn did, however, as well as securing an option to double the Biontech deliveries in 2022. In view of 160 million vaccine doses from the German company alone, Lauterbach should “be grateful that he can continue to work on this good stock”.
Corona vaccinations in Germany: Bundestag experts agree – Lauterbach has to continue shopping
FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann judged the situation differently. “Apparently Jens Spahn did not expect that we as the traffic light coalition could implement such an immense speed with the booster vaccinations,” he said Merkur.de. It is about serving the needs in the practices, not about “theoretically having enough vaccine in an Excel spreadsheet”.
Further steps could be necessary for this, said Ullmann. “I am very optimistic that our Health Minister Karl Lauterbach can organize a strong vaccination campaign. I also hope that he can order enough vaccines, ”said the Liberal. Lauterbach had emphasized on Thursday that too little and sometimes too late vaccine would be available in the first quarter of 2022. The SPD minister wants to bring forward deliveries and procure a further 12 million cans.
Pilsinger also admitted that Lauterbach’s vaccination course was “fundamentally” correct. Until an adapted vaccine is approved, one must concentrate on the resources available. Lauterbach should “continue the path of his predecessor Spahn” and pursue a forward-looking purchasing policy, was the advice of the CSU politician, which was turned a little differently but was essentially the same. This applies, for example, to vaccines and drugs that will later be approved.
Corona vaccine: FDP politician defends procedure – but warns of errors: “New and possibly more deadly variants”
Ullmann, who has been warning of vaccine shortages in other parts of the world for months, also saw no problem for the global vaccination campaign due to the German reorders – at least for the time being. “Biontech is a tranche that would not have come about. This also applies to deliveries from other manufacturers, ”he said Merkur.de. But no vaccine should continue to be bought away from poorer countries. “One thing is clear: if Covax vaccination doses are removed, our exit strategy from the crisis will be torpedoed.” This would “provoke new and possibly even more deadly variants”.
In general, however, it is possible to boost and at the same time achieve higher vaccination rates in poorer countries. “At the moment, there are still major differences between the vaccine turbo countries and the bottom of the range in the vaccination rankings. But there is no question that we will overcome these differences as quickly as possible, ”said Ullmann. “To do this, we have to join forces, expand production capacities and strengthen the Covax global COVID-19 vaccination campaign.” What is also needed is a functioning infrastructure for the vaccine in the affected countries. “This is a huge problem,” warned the infectiologist.
Meanwhile, Pilsinger looked critically at the traffic light coalition – and gave a swipe at the debate about the federal government’s supplementary budget. The SPD, Greens and FDP should “take a lot of money from the Corona special fund” for the necessary vaccine orders, he demanded. That is better than “spending billions of euros on left-wing yellow Christmas wishes that have nothing to do with the Corona crisis” in a constitutionally inadmissible way. (fn)
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