Status: 19.09.2021 4:18 p.m.
An end to the corona restrictions in six weeks? With his proposal for a “Freedom Day”, Gassen’s chief medical officer made headlines and is now being criticized – also from the Chancellery.
The call by health insurance chief Andreas Gassen for a so-called “Freedom Day”, on which all corona restrictions will be lifted at the end of October, has been sharply criticized by doctors and politicians. Chancellery chief Helge Braun rejects the request from Gassen.
Braun: “May be another wave”
Braun told the Reuters news agency: “I don’t think much of a ‘Freedom Day’ in autumn (…) at the moment. Because there may well be another wave.” A good four million people have been infected to date, but 20 million have not yet received vaccination protection. “That shows how big a new wave can be in the worst case,” says Braun. “We should only promise that the restrictions will be lifted when the percentage of those who have been vaccinated has risen significantly, especially in the older age groups – that is, we achieve community immunity,” added Braun.
In the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, Gassen urged politicians in Germany to take Great Britain as an example. Almost all corona restrictions were lifted there on July 19. Gassen said that politicians had to make a clear statement: “In six weeks we will have Freedom Day! On October 30th, all restrictions will be lifted!” That would leave enough time for anyone who wanted to be vaccinated.
Contradiction to medical due diligence
Patient protection advocate Eugen Brysch criticized that the associations of statutory health insurance physicians were “always up for a headline”. “But when you look at the doctor’s offices, hospitals and nursing homes, such brisk slogans don’t seem to get across. Because the corona restrictions are omnipresent here for every patient, person in need of care and relatives.”
Lower Saxony’s medical association president Martina Wenker told the “NOZ” that it contradicted medical due diligence to “place bets on future disease progression, so to speak”.
Criticism from several parties
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach criticized the approach of “simply testing out what our health system can withstand, how many patients can be treated intensively.” Also the hope is “unrealistic” to want to motivate people to vaccinate by announcing a “Freedom Day”. He suggested setting the target of a vaccination rate of 85 percent of the adult population and announcing that if the mark is reached, substantial easing could come.
The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen said that NDRto now pretend “as if the pandemic was a private pleasure and the unvaccinated ultimately to blame for it and we could now say goodbye to all protective measures, I think that’s cynical”.
Andrew Ullmann (FDP) told the broadcaster that he considered the discussion about lifting the corona rules to be right. However, it is too early to give a specific date. In the coming weeks you have to watch the corona developments closely.
“Still too reckless”
Lower Saxony’s Health Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) also opposes Gassen. You consider the demand with a view to the autumn and winter “still too reckless”, emphasized Behrens opposite the “NOZ”.
Bremen’s Senator for Health Claudia Bernhard (Linke) added that no one can seriously guarantee “that we will have the situation under control over the long term”. She went on to say: “We have to increase vaccination readiness further. We have to work on that, not on a ‘Freedom Day'”.
Encouragement from the AfD
Meanwhile, Gassen received encouragement from the AfD. Top candidate Alice Weidel said: “The health insurance doctors know better than any self-appointed health expert about the corona situation and the state of our health system. (…) The emergency must not become the new normal. Instead of a 2G regime and lockdown for unvaccinated people Germany as soon as possible the freedom day. “
Head of the Chancellery Braun against Corona “Freedom Day” in autumn
Markus Sambale, ARD Berlin, September 19, 2021 2:57 p.m.