RKI boss Wieler: The uncomfortable goes

He admonished, warned, pleaded. Most of his performances put people in a bad mood. Lothar Wieler rubbed shoulders with his employers Spahn and Lauterbach, and in the end probably wore him out too. Now he is leaving the RKI.

“I’ve been the parrot for a long time.” A lot of frustration must have built up this Friday in November 2021. Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), is venting. Only briefly – then again composure. Like the many Fridays before that he spent in the blue jacket in front of the blue wall at the federal press conference. With an impassive mine and as a sidekick for the Federal Minister of Health. Warn, admonish, rarely comfort. Mask on, wash your hands, isolate, get vaccinated – Wieler’s mantra in a repeat loop.

The situation remains difficult. He looks tired. Corona makes even a Rhinelander serious. And tired. The insidious virus has been plaguing Germany and the world for many months now. The fourth wave is announced. The man who is supposed to provide the government with data, facts and recommendations on how to fight the pandemic is tormented by the thought that “even a single child must die”. Wieler wants to prevent that.

His brief verbal foray into the world of parrots expresses anger. It is not aimed at the citizens. Wieler’s anger is aimed at the politicians, the prime ministers, who no longer want to follow the strict course of the RKI scientists. His words, he feels, come to nothing. parrot-equal. babble into nothing.

A squad of bug counters?

Since 2015, the qualified veterinarian and microbiologist has headed the Robert Koch Institute with its more than 1000 employees. The health minister at the time, Hermann Gröhe, brought in the renowned scientist. Wieler’s knowledge of antibiotic resistance and his expertise in the “One Health Strategy”, which considers human, animal and environmental health together, impress the CDU man. Nobody has any idea how important knowledge about virus transmission from animals to humans will become.

Wieler is taking over an agency subordinate to the Ministry of Health that critics say is a troop of beetle counters, sometimes sluggish before the pandemic and basically irrelevant. Corona changes that. The virus flushes the RKI into the consciousness of every citizen – and Lothar Wieler in the role of Covid chief explainer. Out of the Science Tower, into the foreign world of politics. And right in front of the cameras of the capital’s media. “Terra incognita,” but now part of the job profile, says the disease expert matter-of-factly.

Spahn needs better news

Things are going so moderately with the then Health Minister Jens Spahn. He likes to check, but as a non-medical person he initially follows the expertise of the RKI. Until the summer of 2021. The federal election is approaching, Spahn is involved in the Laschet team. He also needs better news.

Wieler and his boss, the Minister of Health, argue about the value of the incidences as a benchmark for the corona measures. Wieler wants to keep them as the most important indicator. not spah.

Where is Wieler?

Suddenly, the head of the RKI is missing from the weekly appearances before the federal press conference. For a summer. frustrated? disgraced? Where’s Wieler? the media ask anxiously. The head of the RKI has long been in the sights of corona deniers, and he has received death threats. Politically, the FDP in particular is working on him. She finally wants “Freedom Day,” but not only the liberals criticize the data situation of the RKI.

Wieler will be back in autumn. On the bench in front of the blue wall, keep warning. Sometimes he sounds desperate. In winter, the traffic light government and a new employer takes over. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is also a medical doctor. But it’s even worse now.

The bang with Lauterbach

The really big bang follows quickly. Lauterbach prescribes more competence for the RKI, Wieler uses it and shortens the recovered status, he does not inform the minister. Countries are raging, hundreds of thousands of citizens lose the chance to visit a restaurant overnight. Lauterbach is duped, pushes the buck to Wieler, the FDP demands his resignation. Wieler feels betrayed. The “Bild” headlines: “Wieler wobbles.”

Lothar isn’t enough of a government general, he’s more of a scientist and free spirit, says someone who knows and appreciates him well. And he is much more emotional than the appearances with an iron mine at press conferences would suggest. It hurts when the Chancellor convenes a Corona expert council, which gives advice from then on.

RKI between science and politics

The problematic relationship highlights the difficult basic constellation at the RKI: being scientifically independent and yet serving the minister, following his instructions and providing the legitimacy for government action.

Now that Wieler is paving the way at the head of Germany’s top epidemic authority, the discussion on the future of the RKI is picking up speed. Should the institute get more legroom? That would mean emancipation from the ministry. Or do we need two authorities: one that conducts independent research and a second that conducts federal investigations?

Above all, better digital networking is needed. He now wants to devote himself to Wieler in his new job. Lauterbach praised him as he left by saying that he had saved many lives with his constant warnings.

But Wieler is also self-critical: He should have communicated better in the rapidly changing state of knowledge. But there was a lack of time and resources, says Wieler in retrospect in an interview with “Zeit”. And that his authority did propose alternatives to the school closures.

The processing has only just begun. Politics and science blame each other for the highly controversial school closures. But the scientist Wieler does not want this buck.