Of
Berit Uhlmann
If there was one good thing about the pandemic, it’s the fact that it’s changed the way we look at health. Suddenly health was no longer just the private, almost coyly guarded condition of one’s own body, but a matter that concerned everyone. Every single person in this country learned very clearly that health also has a social dimension, which is why there is also the discipline called public health or public health. Its mission is to promote the health of all, and to do so, as the best-known definition puts it, “through organized societal efforts.” But Germany also learned during the pandemic that the promotion of everyone’s health was sometimes more exhausting than well organized. And that health did not always benefit optimally. The sluggish vaccination campaign that resulted in preventable severe cases is just one example.