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Corona vaccines in a vaccination center in Stuttgart
Photo: THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP
The current vaccination debacle in numbers:
The German state administered 24,886 doses of AstraZeneca to its citizens this Monday.
1.2 million servings of this vaccine are lying around unused in warehouses and refrigerators in the republic.
650,000 more AstraZeneca cans will follow over the weekend.
Where to put that stuff
These three figures show evidence of poverty: for those politically responsible in Berlin and the federal states.
And for the German health bureaucracy.
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Corona vaccine: AstraZeneca announces further delivery bottlenecks
What would have happened if the much criticized manufacturer AstraZeneca had delivered the quantities originally promised?
Our state is not even able to get the vaccine, which is actually much too scarce, into the upper arms of its citizens.
Seen in this light, it is almost a blessing that AstraZeneca may also provide the EU with less than agreed in the next quarter.
A drug that saves 94 percent of those vaccinated from hospital in Scotland is boycotted by thousands of insecure Germans: They skip the vaccination appointments or do not even book them. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, our bureaucracy did not send many of those entitled to receive their invitations on time.
At the same time, millions of Germans long for this drug, but are not allowed to have it administered.
This is prevented by the regulations: a rigid vaccination prioritization which no longer makes sense in the event of a vaccine excess - and should therefore be softened or suspended.
Even if only temporarily for a few days.
In a few weeks, when the Biontech vaccine comes in larger quantities, there is the threat of the next confusion.
In Germany there is no central software control that calculates the distribution.
Flexibility and improvisation would be particularly important in this critical phase of the pandemic.
But that is exactly what those responsible in German politics and administration lack.
You would do well to hire external specialists for corona management: practitioners from business, troubleshooters.
Such as Kate Bingham, the venture capitalist who heads the UK vaccine procurement task force.
People who tackle and think ahead, take the initiative.
The federal government, the state governments and the various ministries cannot.
The AstraZeneca posse is just another disaster in an ever longer chain.
The hesitant vaccine order, the almost four months long, initially half-baked shutdown, the inadequate digitization of many health authorities and schools, the Corona app sadness, the constant falsified infection figures of the Robert Koch Institute due to "delay in reporting".
And, most deadly, the initially completely inadequate protection of the most vulnerable people in old people's and nursing homes.
The failure of the state is just continuing: Despite the rampant mutations, tens of thousands of schools and daycare centers in Germany have been opened this week without being protected by comprehensive rapid tests, as in Austria, for example.
There is still no rapid test concept for the economy - unlike in Great Britain, for example, where the state provides companies with free tests.
And so far, rapid tests for personal use at home have not even been officially approved in Germany, because they could possibly deliver incorrect results and make users feel safe.
(This line of argument was also used with masks.) The result was that the tests were dealt clandestinely as if it were about heroin.
Or, worse, that people didn't test themselves at all.
The first special approvals for three products only came this Wednesday.
After all: the Federal Minister of Health wanted to finally offer rapid tests to all citizens free of charge from March 1, in pharmacies, practices and test centers.
But not with the Chancellor.
She wants to discuss this again with the sovereigns at the next scheduled Prime Minister's Conference.
Hopefully the mutants take their time.
In a few weeks, when the Biontech vaccine comes in larger quantities, there is the threat of another mess.
In Germany there is no central software control that calculates the distribution.
The largest vaccination campaign in history has so far been partly controlled with Excel tables, pens and paper.
more on the subject
Corona pandemic: Study measures reservations against corona vaccinations in Germany
The mood in the country is turning.
For the first time, the relative majority of Germans no longer trust the grand coalition to cope with the corona crisis, according to a SPIEGEL survey.
This federal government and the prime minister can't think of much: besides imposing shutdowns of various colors and sedating those particularly affected with loads of tax money.
It's the old recipe from the first wave.
Should this status quo go on for months - in the hope that the vaccination will still go well, somehow, someday?
Is sitting out the only plan?
Many responsible politicians, above all the Chancellor, apparently have no other specific plan.
You hesitate and hesitate, appear passive, yes: lethargic.
They don't give people any orientation.
And that of all things in a phase in which the new vaccines and the rapid tests would give us the chance to finally gain the upper hand over the disease.
As it is currently emerging in Israel.
And as the populist Boris Johnson is now promising his people.
Don't dare to try anything, don't try anything - there is no malicious intent behind this.
But the well-intentioned endeavor, for God's sake, not to do more wrong.
No worries or interest groups to worry about, so shortly before the federal election.
But failure to do so costs human life and destroys livelihoods.
Why doesn't politics leave operational corona management to the professionals?
A task force made up of independent managers and specialists for logistics or organization, IT or production planning, for example, would not have to pay so much attention to political sensitivities and election tactics.
Above all, however, these people have learned to design, to organize and to solve specific problems pragmatically.
And: You could also do something completely different than before.
Developing new ideas and concepts, for example for vaccine distribution, for rapid tests - or for the construction of pharmaceutical factories.
Who knows which and how many vaccines we will still need against these mutants.
There are so many creative, highly intelligent people in Germany who would like to help.
If we involve them, we use their know-how.
Together we can get this virus down.
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