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Crime scene of a political act?
The vaccination center in Schortens (archive picture)
Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa
In the scandal of possibly thousands of cases in which people could have received saline solution instead of a corona vaccine, a special police working group is now investigating.
The decision to do so was made in view of the "special importance and increased complexity" of the case, said the police in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony.
The registered nurse, who worked at the vaccination center in Schortens, admitted to having filled six syringes mostly with saline solutions in April after she accidentally dropped a Biontech vaccine ampoule.
The authorities had subsequently specified that the woman - contrary to what was initially reported - had testified that she had also drawn up vaccine residues from other Biontech ampoules.
Political motive is in the room
Saline solution is regularly used to dilute the vaccine and is harmless to the body.
Most potentially affected citizens received one of two vaccinations during the period in question, and in a few cases both.
The decision to set up the »vaccine« investigative group is "in line with the growing evidence that the accused may have carried out further manipulations of vaccinations and that a motive for a critical stance on the subject of vaccinations cannot be ruled out," the police said with.
The group consists of eight investigators, also from the field of state security.
A possible political motive for women is in the room.
According to information from SPIEGEL on social media, she is said to have compared the pandemic with the flu and shared a slanderous cartoon on WhatsApp that is circulating among conspiracy ideologues.
The woman's defense attorney denies this suspicion.
More than 10,000 people called for complementary vaccinations
However, the actual extent of the alleged manipulation by the suspect is still unclear. The district of Friesland, in whose vaccination center in Schortens the woman worked until she was discovered and released in April, called on around 10,200 people to receive supplementary vaccinations as a precautionary measure.
According to the authorities, the number is derived from the total number of vaccination appointments that were assigned to the suspects during the duty roster in March and April. In how many cases only saline solution was administered instead of vaccine cannot be determined. The accused is silent. After a long period of time, antibody tests are also no longer suitable for determining the vaccination status. The authorities therefore want to exclude any risk. The accused had her lawyer explain that the April case was a one-off incident.
Oldenburg Police Vice President Andreas Sagehorn said the number of citizens called for vaccination again "does not correspond to the number of suspected cases."
But it is a "fact" that the number cannot be put into precise figures either.
"We have to keep shedding light on the darkness," said Sagehorn.
The case must be clarified "as completely as possible".
bbr / AFP