Appeal to the unvaccinated: “What still has to happen?”

In view of the sharply rising corona numbers, Federal President Steinmeier has urged people to get vaccinated. At the same time, he called for increased efforts against the pandemic.

In view of the rapidly increasing corona infections, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urgently called for vaccinations. “Those who do not get vaccinated are putting their own health at risk and they endanger us all,” Steinmeier said in a panel discussion at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. “I ask you once again: Get vaccinated! It’s about your health and it’s about the future of your country!”

At the same time, the Federal President called for greater efforts to combat the pandemic. “In these weeks, in which the fourth wave hits us with brutal severity, in which thousands are again wrestling with the virus in the intensive care units, in which children, adolescents and, above all, many unvaccinated people are infected, we have to do more in these weeks to break this wave, “said Steinmeier.

“We know what to do”

The fourth wave hits everyone harder than it should hit them, said Steinmeier. “Because we know what to do to finally put this pandemic behind us. We can all know.” Most people in Germany got vaccinated to protect themselves and others.

It was mainly unvaccinated people who became infected with the virus this autumn and it was mainly unvaccinated people who were fighting for their lives in the intensive care units. “When I hear that people who are wrestling with the virus in hospitals still deny that this virus exists, I am deeply shocked,” said the Federal President.

This is tragic and worries him deeply, said Steinmeier. “If you are still hesitant about getting vaccinated, I want to ask you directly today: What still has to happen to convince you?”

Draw conclusions for future crises

With a view to the possible consequences of the pandemic, Steinmeier said: “We already have to ask ourselves whether we – all of us, in politics and society – really wanted to learn enough from the second and third waves, whether not the desire, the thoughts of the Finally banishing the epidemic, stood in the way of a consistent defense against the fourth wave. ” It is all the more important to draw conclusions now and to prepare for future crises.

This also includes an appropriate relationship between science and democratic politics, said Steinmeier. “We must not blur the lines between the two spheres, and we must not play off the perspectives of science and the requirements of democratic politics against each other.” If politics hide behind science and / or science takes the place of politics, this weakens trust in science and democracy.

Buyx appeals to politics

In the discussion in the “Forum Bellevue” series, Steinmeier spoke to experts about the lessons that the state and society should learn from the pandemic. The guests were the chairwoman of the German Ethics Council, Alena Buyx, the legal scholar Laura Münkler and the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament Vice-President Aminata Touré.

Buyx appealed to politicians to make far more forward-looking decisions. Then you have more time for coordination processes. Scientific policy advice should also be professionalized, institutionalized and made easier to understand in order to be able to respond in a comprehensible manner even in an exponential growth situation.