Among the objections to mandatory corona vaccination, a particularly bizarre one has now emerged: lack of paper. The Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds believes that compulsory vaccination is simply not feasible because there is no paper. The individualized cover letter to 60 million insured persons, which is planned for May 15, 2022, “would not be possible from an organizational point of view,” according to the association’s statements on draft laws that were heard in the Bundestag’s health committee on Monday.
In Europe there is a shortage of paper and therefore “there is a lack of material for the approximately 120 million letters”, according to the GKV association. Each insured person must be written to twice. After the law was promulgated, the statutory health insurance companies would have to print and send up to 1.8 million letters per week in the remaining period. There is not only a lack of paper, but also of staff. In addition, there is no guarantee that the health insurance companies “have the necessary current address data for all of their insured persons,” writes the central association.
“Stupidest excuse ever,” tweeted a family doctor
According to some draft laws on compulsory vaccination, the health insurance companies should not only ask about the vaccination and recovery status of their policyholders, but also report this to the fine offices. The central association also defends itself against this in its statement, because this would “severely burden the relationship of trust between the insured person and the health insurance company”. The health insurance companies are not health or regulatory authorities. “The monitoring of compulsory vaccination is a state task.”
On Twitter, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) is ridiculed and criticized for its lack of paper. “There is hardly a better way to illustrate the state of digitization in healthcare,” tweeted Paula Piechotta. The doctor from Leipzig has been a member of the German Bundestag for the Greens since autumn. “Welcome to Banana Island,” writes another woman. A user asks why the health insurance company does not know that he has already had three vaccinations and wants to send him a letter with information, when the chip card was read during the vaccinations. “Stupidest excuse ever”, comments a family doctor from Bavaria on the statement of the GKV and immediately calls for paper donations to the health insurance companies. He now assumes that “as a family doctor, I now have peace of mind from constant cash register announcements (on paper).”
Paper mills could deliver
“We can deliver,” says a spokesman for the paper industry association: “We cannot understand the statements made by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds.” A paper mill has already stated that it could cover all of its requirements eight weeks in advance. “And that’s just a factory,” said the spokesman. The association also calculated how much paper would be needed: around 600 tons. That is around one per thousand of the annual need for “office and administration paper”, as the technical term goes. This means those DIN A4 sheets that are also required for copiers and printers.
The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds feels misunderstood. Current reports “could” give the impression that the statutory health insurance is against the introduction of compulsory vaccination, according to a statement published in a hurry on Monday. “Vaccination is the most powerful weapon in the fight against the corona virus. Of course, all statutory health insurance companies and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds are doing everything they can to increase the vaccination rate,” said Doris Pfeiffer, Chairwoman of the Statutory Health Insurance Fund. At no point was there any opposition to the introduction of compulsory vaccination. “We only pointed out the practical difficulties to be expected in the planned implementation by the health insurance companies.” The notification was published completely paperless on the association’s website. Go then.