Angela Merkel again on German television, just 24 hours after the so-called vaccination summit in the Chancellery on Monday. The most important representatives of politics, science and business were there and then realized in front of the cameras that the slow pace of vaccinations against the coronavirus will not pick up anytime soon. The manufacturers can no longer supply vaccines or are bound by contracts with other countries.
That was a sobering message, and so the explanation for that is ARD-Interview This Tuesday simply: Merkel has to ask for a lot of patience these days – or at least show her presence. Because what German politics is doing when it comes to pandemics leaves many people at a loss.
“Europe’s thoroughness was not a mistake”
Why is vaccination going so much faster in Israel, Great Britain and the USA than in the EU, including Germany? Merkel is now declaring that the vaccine from the manufacturer AstraZeneca has been granted emergency approval in Great Britain. In Europe, however, the vaccine had been tested with the thoroughness that would otherwise apply. “That wasn’t a mistake, we need trust.”
You have heard this from the government so often. But why the EU negotiated much more slowly and apparently less bindingly with the pharmaceutical companies last year, Merkel remains silent on this Tuesday.
Regarding the situation in Germany, the Chancellor then said that she could not present a clear vaccination schedule for the next few months – however fast or slow. The manufacturers explained that they produced vaccines under high pressure and that precise predictions about the quantities could not be made that far in advance. By the way: “If you had asked me a year ago when we had the first cases, when would we have a vaccine? Then I would not have bet that we could do it so quickly!”
“Mutations could thwart our plans”
The tough restrictions that currently apply in Germany, the bans on contact, the closed restaurants, cinemas and schools, meanwhile, pull on people’s nerves. Some observers whisper that the restrictions could be extended into April.
In any case, Merkel has not brought any other, more positive message with her: “Opening the door for 14 days, during which we then grow exponentially again, would not be the solution,” said the Chancellor. Incidentally, the falling number of new infections shows that the measures are working. “That is a good performance, we haven’t been there for a long time. But that doesn’t mean that we have regained control of the virus by the health authorities.”
“We cannot present a clear vaccination plan” – older people in a new vaccination center in Berlin
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But then there is the uncertainty that the mutations in the virus cause, which are said to be far more contagious. So Merkel praises the discipline of most people in Germany. The country is on the right track, but: “The only risk is that the mutation from Great Britain or South Africa could thwart our plans because it is much more aggressive.”
Merkel and her rare television interviews
Merkel is actually considered a politician who rarely addresses citizens in direct dialogue. When a particularly large number of refugees came to Germany in 2015, she ventured out into the public a few times in TV surveys. Last year, during the first corona lockdown, she then gave a high-profile televised address at the end of March. “It’s serious, take it seriously,” she called out to people at the time. And in the months that followed, she was always present at press conferences in the Chancellery after the numerous meetings with the Prime Ministers of the federal states.
In January of this year she then surprised with a visit to the federal press conference in Berlin, now the ARD interview, which was announced at short notice. Merkel then says that you ask all people in Germany to hold out “a little”. So the Chancellor does not have any really positive messages, but at least she delivers these rather frustrating assessments personally.
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