It is the breaking news of the day: “Aiwanger has had himself vaccinated”, it popped on the screens in the editorial offices on Thursday at 10:31 am. So that everyone understands the historical dimension, the German press agency Aiwangers Piks reported as a yellow “double report”, which it usually only does when something really bad has happened. By way of comparison: the processes at the Polish border are classified as category 3, of medium importance.
What should one think of it now? Aiwanger himself stated that he could still keep 2-G appointments in November. That also helps to relieve hospitals. He was silent about details, after all, he did not want to turn his vaccination into a show. In his case that would have been the right decision for once, especially since Aiwanger had previously turned his vaccination skepticism into a show for months. The pandemic policy of the state government, which is currently grappling with a large number of unvaccinated liking friends Aiwangers, has already caused irreparable damage. Now he could have announced publicly: “People, I’ve changed my mind, do it like me.” But he doesn’t.
Rather, it seems that Aiwanger has bowed to pressure from party friends. An unvaccinated minister of economics is simply untenable in times when participation in public life is increasingly determined by the 2-G rule. It should have recently become clear to Aiwanger that he was risking his expulsion from the cabinet and thus the black-orange coalition. “This is a very good signal in serious times,” announced Söder on Thursday.
Do Aiwangers anti-vaccination fans see it that way too? Or is he just another example in their eyes of how the coercive state breaks even the bravest Hubert? One way or another, his vaccination has become a big political issue. Whether the discussion about it will be further poisoned depends entirely on himself. In any case, the few succinct sentences from Thursday will not be enough. Aiwanger owes a more detailed explanation for his change of mind about vaccination. However, his statements of the past few weeks suggest that he is struggling with it.