During the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) had a significant influence on the measures taken by politicians at the time to combat the coronavirus and its consequences. The RKI should evaluate the latest scientific findings and thus develop a basis for political decision-making. But now internal protocols from the RKI’s Corona crisis team from this time have become public – and they raise questions.
The focus of the discussion is the question of whether measures such as mask requirements, lockdowns or benefits for vaccinated people were discussed much more controversially internally than was communicated externally. According to the protocol, there were still doubts about the benefits of FFP2 masks in autumn 2020 if “unqualified personnel” used them. The minutes of a meeting from the beginning of January 2021 also state that it is uncertain whether vaccinated people, like those who have recovered, contribute less to the spread of the coronavirus. They should therefore “continue not to receive any special status”. However, exactly such privileges for vaccinated people were later decided with the 2G and 3G regulations – in April the RKI changed its assessment. The complete picture also includes the fact that all of these questions were discussed intensively in public. At the beginning of the pandemic, the RKI had argued against wearing masks for a long time, when masks had long been recommended in other parts of the world.
A passage in the partially redacted documents, which refers to a round of discussions on March 16, 2020, is causing particular excitement, especially in social networks. It states that a new risk assessment has been prepared and should be “scaled up”. “The risk assessment will be published as soon as (redacted name) gives a signal.” This gave rise to a rumor that there had been political influence from outside the RKI. The Federal Ministry of Health rejected this on Monday: the name of an RKI employee was hidden behind the blacked out area.
At the end of January, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) admitted that, in retrospect, the long closures of schools and daycare centers were a mistake.
(Photo: Michael Weber/imago images)
When asked, the RKI itself said that the decision to upgrade had been made by the institute’s management with the involvement of the RKI crisis team. This arose “from the overall epidemiological situation at the time” and was made on the basis of the “fundamentals of the RKI’s risk assessment”. On March 17, the RKI changed its assessment of a health risk for people in Germany from “moderate” to “high”. The first lockdown began a few days later.
Some politicians have already admitted mistakes
The RKI protocols became public because of the online magazine Multipolar had sued for its release. The magazine is considered controversial, with some observers placing it in the right-wing populist and conspiracy ideology milieu. Editor Paul Schreyer writes books with conspiracy narratives about the September 11 attacks. This makes no difference to the significance of the protocols, which come from the RKI itself.
In recent weeks, several politicians have admitted mistakes in dealing with the pandemic. For example, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said at the end of January that the long closures of schools and daycare centers were, in retrospect, a mistake. “At that time, this was recommended by scientists who advised the federal government.” They didn’t know any better, said Lauterbach, who has been Federal Minister of Health since December 2021. Helge Braun (CDU), Chancellery Minister in Angela Merkel’s (CDU) cabinet until the end of 2021, also recently said this Mirror, the federal government overestimated the effect of the vaccines. It was assumed that vaccinated people would also be protected from infection. “Vaccinations were advertised as a solution to exiting the pandemic and created expectations that we were ultimately unable to fulfill.” Former Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said: “We have made decisions that I would no longer agree with today.”
The RKI’s Corona protocols are likely to fuel the debate about political processing of the pandemic period. The FDP has long advocated setting up a Bundestag study commission. Federal Health Minister Lauterbach made it known that he did not think this was necessary. Overall, Germany “got through the pandemic relatively well,” said Lauterbach on Monday. Many more people would have died if measures such as the lockdowns had not been taken. The pandemic must be examined scientifically. Overall, it is now “important to look forward.”