WThen should politics loosen up when – once again – they know next to nothing? At least not now was the response of the guests at Anne Will’s in view of the omicron wave. In addition to the question of easing, it went in the ARD talk show on Sunday evening also about the need for compulsory vaccination.
A “better carrier pigeon level” complained Uwe Janssens, President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), with a view to the digital availability of patient data.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) promised improvement, but also had to admit: “A country like Greece digitized its health system within one to two years.”
NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination on the show. FAZ parliamentary correspondent Helene Bubrowksi was more skeptical. The law graduate made it clear that compulsory vaccination would also raise relevant legal questions.
Clockwise from left: Helene Bubrowski, correspondent for the “FAZ” parliamentary editorial team; Uwe Janssens, Chief Physician at the Clinic for Internal Medicine and Internal Intensive Care Medicine… at the St. Antonius Hospital in Eschweiler; Alena Buyx, Professor of Medical Ethics and Chair of the German Ethics Council; Anne Will, moderator; Marco Buschmann (FDP), Federal Minister of Justice; Hendrik Wüst (CDU), Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia
Source: NDR/Dietmar Gust
The chairwoman of the German Ethics Council, Alena Buyx, could at least imagine that compulsory vaccination could be justified.
“Anne Will”: When can measures be relaxed?
It would be too early to relax the corona restrictions now that the daily number of infections is rising rapidly. Janssens, Buyx and Wüst agreed on that. No one wanted to set a specific time for easing.
Buyx referred to an “eerie data deficit”. It is still not known where people are most infected and how severe the omicron courses are. The guests repeatedly complained about the delayed digitalization of the German healthcare system.
“If we are clear that our healthcare system will not be overburdened if the numbers drop again, then we shouldn’t wait a long time to puzzle over: Which step are we going to take now?” An “exit strategy” is needed, said the CDU politician. He received support from Buschmann. It is common sense to withdraw measures when the situation improves.
The viewers mainly received statements without meaningfulness on the show. Wüst did not explain at what capacity the health system was not overloaded. And even Buschmann did not describe when the situation would have improved for him.
“How do you think they feel anyway?”
“If the FDP weren’t part of the federal government, Olaf Scholz would have submitted a draft law long ago,” said Bubrowski, a journalist from the FAZ. In doing so, she addressed the Federal Government’s approach of leaving the draft for compulsory vaccination to the members of the Bundestag alone.
Buschmann defended that. It is a medical-ethical topic, “where everyone in the circle of acquaintances notices how much friction and heat arises in the debate”. The arguments should be visible in Parliament.
For the FDP minister, the aim of compulsory vaccination is not to change the current corona situation. “We’re doing that for the fall,” said Buschmann. This was clear from the start for everyone “who deals with the matter”.
“No,” replied Janssens. The vaccination requirement for employees in the healthcare sector was passed last year. “How do you think they feel?” asked the doctor.
Especially vaccinated employees are “very cold”. They mainly cared for the unvaccinated. “They ask themselves the question: why are people pointing the finger at us? We are now the “bad guys” making sure the unvaccinated over 60, the vulnerable get infected,” Janssens said of the vaccinated nurses.
Wüst’s declaration on compulsory vaccination irritates Anne Will
Wüst was primarily concerned with compulsory vaccination as a sign to those who had been vaccinated. This group should be shown the obligation to vaccinate: “Now it’s the turn of the others who have previously refused,” said the CDU man.
“It is a sign to the vaccinated? I didn’t get that right now,” moderator Will asked, irritated.
Wüst replied: “It’s about showing those who have been vaccinated and those who do everything: We will no longer allow people to put their individual freedom above the freedom of society as a whole. Now we take care of the unvaccinated.”
That wasn’t enough for Buschmann. A legitimate goal is required for legal justification. “One message is not enough. What is sufficient is the protection of our public health system,” the Federal Minister made clear.
Bubrowski was unsure whether an obligation would also lead to the desired vaccinations. Her doctor reported to her during the booster vaccination that “25-year-olds in particular” now come for the first vaccination. “These are not vaccination refusers in that sense,” said the journalist, “they are simply people who have other issues on the table.” These people can also be reached with low-threshold vaccination offers. Corona deniers, on the other hand, would rather falsify vaccination cards or pay the fine: the vaccination requirement is too important an issue to only serve as “proof of work for the traffic light government”.
The test comparison is embarrassing for Germany
The German corona policy once again gives an embarrassing picture in the PCR tests – at least in comparison with our neighboring countries. In view of the lack of test capacities, the health ministers of the federal states spoke out in favor of prioritizing the tests last Saturday.
The moderator showed figures on test capacities in other EU countries. In comparison, Germany is clearly lagging behind. For example, the city of Vienna alone, with less than two million inhabitants, carries out more PCR tests every week than the whole of Germany. In Austria, vaccinated people also need the spit tests to attend events with more than 500 people. The tests can be picked up and handed in at supermarkets or hotels, for example.
Buschmann had to admit that the bottlenecks cannot be explained away. The prioritization is “not a nice decision”, but it has to be made.
Wüst pointed out that there is also a lack of qualified personnel. The people there are “leaned and exhausted”. Wüst did not explain whether there was a lack of political foresight in the end. After all, Austrian laboratory workers are unlikely to be much more efficient than German staff.