Enlarge image
Vaccination in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Photo: Gregor Fischer / dpa
Incidence, R-value, intensive care bed occupancy - since the corona crisis we have been interested in numbers that we didn't even know what they actually meant before.
But perhaps the most important number is currently another: that of the first vaccinations against Covid-19.
On Sunday there were just over 30,000 people who picked up their first shot in Germany.
The lowest value since the beginning of February.
That should worry us.
Because one thing is clear: at this rate, the end of the pandemic will not happen anytime soon.
Around 41 million Germans have been fully vaccinated so far, and another 9.5 million have at least received their first injection. That sounds good at first, but it is by far not enough. Epidemiologists assume that at least 85 percent of the population must be fully vaccinated in order to achieve what is known as herd immunity, which stops the further spread of the coronavirus. That would be around 70.7 million people in Germany. So there are about 20 million left to be convinced. That's quite a lot. But even if herd immunity is not achieved, the more people vaccinated, the fewer infections, hospital admissions and deaths there will be. And the more improbable a renewed shutdown becomes.
It is no longer due to the lack of vaccines.
In principle, any adult can be vaccinated in all parts of the country.
Yet many have not yet done so - whether out of fear, indolence or ignorance.
According to all that we currently know, the proportion of unvaccinated people in certain groups is particularly high: among young people as well as in less educated and economically disadvantaged groups.
The attempts by politics to reach these groups have so far been rather unfortunate.
It is true that there were always vaccination campaigns in socially disadvantaged areas.
The official advertising campaign of the federal government, however, earned more ridicule than enthusiasm: With pictures of the bare upper arms of Uschi Glas, Reiner Calmund or Jan Hofer, it should be difficult to convince the people who are still missing.
Apparently Helge Braun knows that too.
That is why the minister of the Chancellery, who was still in the Chancellery, carefully sounded out over the weekend whether a kind of mandatory vaccination could not be introduced - and be it indirectly by excluding the unvaccinated from going to restaurants or other joys in life.
The reactions were subdued to devastating.
Braun even received a public rebuke from his own party leader Armin Laschet - and it is in fact at least questionable whether coercion is the best way to get people to inject.
Don't worry, everyone gets the hundred
Weeks ago, economists proposed a much more elegant solution: cash payments to those who get vaccinated. Investigations have shown that the sums must not be too low, otherwise the willingness to decrease rather than increase. But with 100 euros per completed vaccination cycle, a lot can be achieved. This financial argument is likely to carry weight, especially among young and economically weaker people.
“Wait a minute!” Many will think now. "And what about all those who have already had a good vaccination?" Don't worry, they should of course also get the hundred. That would cost the state a lot of money - for an 85 percent vaccination quota you would need a good seven billion euros - but it would still be significantly cheaper than spending another year in constant fear of lockdown. Because this fear is also paralyzing the economic recovery, as the business climate index of the Ifo Institute has just shown again: In July, the most important German economic barometer fell again for the first time since the beginning of the year - out of concern among companies about the fourth wave.
In the past year and a half, Germany has seen how expensive such a corona downturn can be for the state: For 2020 to 2022, Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is planning new debt with 470 billion euros. There would be the seven billion euros in vaccination premiums comparatively peanuts - and money well invested if this could finally end the crisis.