The fourth virus wave is rolling over the country: record numbers of infections, overcrowded intensive care units, bitter vaccination dispute! Maybrit Illner is shuddering: “Incidence is increasing, immunity is decreasing – winter again, no plan again?”
The guests
► Helge Braun (49, CDU). The Chancellery Minister groans: “I would have liked to save myself this winter.”
► Karl Lauterbach (58, SPD). The health politician sounds the alarm: “This is how we endanger Christmas.”
► Prof. Christine Falk (55). The head of the German immunologists warns: “We have too many people who are not vaccinated.”
► Andreas Gassen (59). The head of the German statutory health insurance physicians demands that politics should “not change the rules every few weeks”.
► Stephan Pusch (53, CDU). The district administrator from Heinsberg, which was particularly affected in 2020, was re-elected after the pandemic, that says it all.
► Michael Bewerunge (60). The journalist heads the ZDF studio in Tel Aviv.
Now comes the booster vaccination, is there any booster information? The Zoff-o-Meter wouldn’t mind.
A sedative pill to start with
“The vaccine is extremely effective,” says the immunologist happily. However: “For a few people, the complete protection decreases a little earlier.”
“The Delta variant must not be left a millimeter of space,” she warns, “otherwise it will manage to get into the nasopharynx through this defense and infect people.”
The immunologist Prof. Christine Falk (55)Photo: ZDF
Handy comparison
“We should try to get in a bit of rest,” advises Gassen, who is connected from Düsseldorf, to the information about infections even after the needle stick. “These people need a third vaccination, a booster vaccination, and we can do that too.”
The doctor quotes what the immunologist “said very nicely this morning in the ministerial meeting”: “It is not that the vaccination protection disappears the next day, as with a magazine subscription, when it expires, but it will then gradually fewer.”
Most angry comment
“You can set the clock to see when more people will become infected,” Lauterbach worries. At some point “all those who have been vaccinated twice” would be affected. Difference: “The younger ones do not get sick that seriously, the older ones get sick very seriously!”
Chancellery Minister Braun is really angry about the inadequate protection of the particularly endangered groups: “This year is even more annoying than last,” he says. “That it starts so slowly is really a huge loss. That leads to unnecessary deaths! “
Stephan Pusch (53, CDU)Photo: ZDF
Most outraged criticism
“To this day I have not understood why one does not say in such a national emergency: We need a kind of federal crisis team,” says District Administrator Pusch with astonishment.
“All this cacophony of different voices from prime ministerial conferences and the like,” he says annoyed. “These are actually not bodies that are in any way suitable for a crisis.”
Most questionable analysis
The Chancellery Minister is more concerned about a comparison of the current Corona variants: “The signs have been throughout the summer that Delta is causing us more problems than the wild type last year,” he explains.
About plans to test more in old people’s and nursing homes, Braun says: “I am now in favor of us making this a legal requirement.”
Clearest announcement
He “actually assumed that testing would take place,” explains the minister, but: “In some cases, the situation has been taken too lightly. That is why we now have to test consistently very quickly. That is paid for by the federal government. And the offer of a booster vaccination must also be made very quickly. “
Clearest criticism
“I think it is also a problem of credibility when we say, as Mr Braun announced, that we are making a test requirement for visitors to the nursing home who may have been double-vaccinated,” warns the chief medical officer.
Because: “The visitors have to be tested when they visit their relatives, and then maybe half of the workforce will work unvaccinated. It’s hard to bear. “
On the other hand, one shouldn’t threaten the nursing staff with a compulsory vaccination because, according to Gassen, “then maybe some of them won’t come to work at all.” Uff!
Sharpest threat
“Normally there shouldn’t be any contact with patients if you haven’t been vaccinated,” says Lauterbach. “We need a binding regulation that everyone in a care facility who works there or visits someone must be tested.”
His tough announcement: “That has to be documented, with a signature. And if there is fraud, that would also be prosecuted.
Most alarming numbers
“If we do not manage to get more than 75 percent double vaccinations in the population, we run the risk that the (infection) numbers will rise,” warns the immunologist.
“There is a very good projection according to which the incidence will rise to a total of 250 to 400 (infected per 100,000 inhabitants / week) by January,” reports Lauterbach. For the group of the unvaccinated, this means incidences of well over 1000: “They bear the maximum risk.”
Most tricky attack
Regarding the debate about the “epidemic situation of national scope”, Braun recalls the letter in which Health Minister Jens Spahn wrote to the future government that corona restrictions are still needed.
“You wouldn’t let them run out?” Asks the talk show host.
“That is now obsolete,” replies Braun, “because the traffic light coalition has decided to let it run out. I’m a realist. I’ll probably have to accept that. I think the symbol is completely wrong. ”Hm – but didn’t that come from his party colleague Spahn?
Smartest Black Peter game
“You have to keep two things in mind when communicating,” the head of the Chancellery lectures with a raised index finger. “One thing is that the coalitionists are emphasizing all the time that only mild interventions are necessary, it is an expiring pandemic, that will only last until March and these are only lagging effects.”
His peppered accusation: “This communication of this future corona policy is simply wrong in the current situation.”
The Zoff-o-Meter hits promptly
Lauterbach immediately wedges back: “In overcoming this crisis, we have always done well not to turn Corona politics into cheap party politics,” the SPD politician complains to the CDU minister.
Because, continues the health politician: “When we made one or the other joint decree, we were not criticized by the opposition. They withdrew, even if they sometimes disagreed. “
Dialogue of the evening
“I think it’s a shame that you are now saying that the traffic light coalition is to blame,” Lauterbach says over the table in the eye. “I could say now, for example, that Jens Spahn put us under pressure by rushing ahead. But I’m not saying that at all. “
Cheerfulness in the group! “But you just said that,” notes the talk host.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Lauterbach grinned. “I just said what I wouldn’t say.” The others laugh at so much chutzpah.
Most comforting message
The new government will not close schools, Lauterbach promises. No second lockdown either. But: “We will of course give the countries everything they need to really get in here.”
ZDF correspondent Bewerunge is beamed from Tel Aviv and praises the Israeli booster vaccinations: “The really massive fourth wave, we are talking about incidences that we have not yet seen in Germany, of over 700, which one has survived with it.”
Most interesting info
“The FDA has just released the new vaccine for five to twelve year olds,” the correspondent describes Israel’s corona policy.
His most important sentence: “You can assume that the decision about vaccination will be made very promptly, because that is seen as a decisive step towards achieving herd immunity.” Masel tov!
Quote of the evening
Prof. Christine Falk:
We have an immunological memory, and that is sometimes better than the brain’s memory.
Conclusion
The Zoff-o-Meter did not go completely out of work, but the disciplined discussants and the softball questions of the talk show host dimmed the debate down to the safe area and noticed most of the differences of opinion. That was a talk in the “Style and Form” category.