The corona vaccine procurement continues to cause controversy in the government: The Union accuses the SPD of “election campaigns”, the Social Democrats warn of “distrust”. The RKI reports more than 24,000 new infections.
More than 24,000 new corona infections and 1083 new deaths – the corona pandemic remains the dominant topic in Germany. The EU and the federal government want to get the pandemic under control with more vaccines. But the dispute between the SPD and the Union over procurement continues. The SPD taunts, the Union defends itself against the allegations.
CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer accused the Social Democrats of having switched to election campaign mode. In the midst of the pandemic, the party is campaigning with the vaccination debate, she criticized in the “Saarbrücker Zeitung”. The SPD “apparently left the path of reason”. Kramp-Karrenbauer said the attacks harmed the fight against the coronavirus, “because it stirs up uncertainty”. She called on the coalition partner to focus on “responsibility for the country” again.
Similar sounds came from the CSU: “Anyone who switches from Corona fight to election campaign in the middle of the biggest crisis since the Second World War has to be asked whether they have the format for larger tasks,” said CSU General Secretary Markus Blume “Rheinische Post”. The SPD is trying to prepare mentally for the opposition work. “That is not good for the country,” emphasized the CSU politician.
“When questions arise, they are asked”
On Friday, the SPD defended the criticism of Health Minister Jens Spahn’s vaccination policy at its parliamentary group meeting. There are no questions in the pandemic that should not be asked and do not have to be answered, said Olaf Scholz. The four-page catalog of questions on possible failures in the procurement of vaccines that Scholz had recently presented had strained the climate within the coalition.
“If questions arise, they are asked,” said Scholz of the dpa news agency. In view of the Corona crisis, he called for transparency towards the citizens. “In times of great uncertainty, trust is a very central category of governance,” said the SPD candidate for chancellor. “Otherwise distrust can easily arise.”
That is why the new cabinet committee with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spahn, Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier, Chancellor Helge Braun (all CDU) and himself had been formed. “We are pooling our strengths, talking to companies in Germany and Europe and trying to find more production facilities so that as much vaccine as possible is available in the shortest possible time.”
“Vaccination campaign must gain momentum quickly”
The German Association of Cities has now called for more speed with the vaccinations. “Currently, mobile teams are mostly vaccinating in nursing homes and old people’s homes. That is important. As a result, however, the vaccination centers are mostly empty. The vaccination campaign has to pick up speed here,” said City Council President Burkhard Jung. The Mayor of Leipzig, Jung emphasized: “The communal vaccination centers are ready to vaccinate on a large scale and quickly. Several hundred thousand people could be vaccinated there nationwide every day. But we can only really get started when more vaccine arrives locally.”
The mutated corona pathogen, which has already been detected in several federal states, most recently in Berlin on Friday, is worrying municipalities. “The pandemic is far from over. This shows us new challenges such as those caused by mutations in the pathogen,” said the managing director of the City Council, Helmut Dedy, the editorial network Germany. The chief executive of the Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, demanded in the RND that a larger analysis be carried out to determine “whether the mutated variant can already be determined in the event of a positive test”.
Vaccination offer not before 3rd quarter?
The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach does not expect a vaccination offer for all German citizens before the third quarter. He assumes that there will be “not enough vaccine” against the coronavirus for everyone beforehand, Lauterbach told the “Bild” newspaper.
The order of 300 million more doses of the Biontech Pfizer vaccine by the European Union will have “no influence” on it. The SPD politician called the reordering of the vaccine doses by the EU “without ifs and buts correctly”. At the same time, he criticized the fact that the 300 million cans had not been ordered six months ago. In this case, “production capacity would very likely already have been built up,” said Lauterbach.
