Vaccinate everyone, but not the EU?
Plasberg gets to the bottom of the vaccination disaster and the question: How can Germany solve the delivery backlog?
Topic of the Plasberg special talk: "Rescue only drop by drop - is Germany getting too little vaccine?"
In Israel, 14.1 percent of the population has already been vaccinated, in the UK and the USA, 1.4 percent.
A measly result in Germany: 0.3 percent.
Lauterbach advocates a single vaccination to reach more people
"Hard but fair" - these guests discussed with:
Peter Liese (CDU)
- Health Policy Spokesman for the EPP Group in the EU Parliament
Karl Lauterbach (SPD) -
Member of the Bundestag
Volker Wissing (FDP)
- Minister for Economic Affairs of Rhineland-Palatinate, connected from Mainz
Markus Feldenkirchen
- journalist, including
Der Spiegel
Christina Berndt
- science editor at the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Cologne - The Corona situation in Germany is serious - shortly before the Corona summit on Tuesday,
ARD
and
Frank Plasberg
interrupted
the talk show winter break and put a special on the current "vaccination chaos" into the program.
The federal government, which has chosen the European route for vaccination, has been criticized.
Different
vaccines
and
manufacturers
in several countries with different approvals, different methods of action and - above all - different prices per vaccine dose.
In addition, there is a divided population, some of which are hungry for vaccines - on the other hand they reject vaccination on principle.
And the obligation
to pull together
as the
European Union
: Obviously no easy task for politicians to choose the right path.
Vaccination dispute at "Hart aber fair" (ARD): Did the EU bet on the wrong manufacturers?
Journalist Markus Feldenkirchen
sums up at the beginning of the program: The European approach was basically correct for the time being - in particular, to ensure that the countries do not play off each other.
But the criticism follows: But then the negotiations were simply bad and with the wrong manufacturers.
Feldenkirchen criticizes: Instead of
relying
on the two "front runners" - the RNA vaccine manufacturers
Pfizer / Biontech
and
Moderna
- who were already far ahead in the summer with positive interim results and in
terms
of development (and at least in the case of Moderna too make no costly cold chains necessary), the EU has relied on the vaccine from
AstraZeneca
- not yet on the market - and on the French manufacturer
Sanofi
- a "deadlock" as Plasberg commented soberly.
The
SZ
colleague from the science department,
Christina Berndt
, adds that the EU relied on the Oxford vaccine, which was still considered pioneering in the summer, but unfortunately did not become as fast as the products of the competition.
Berndt makes it clear: Europe has not bought too little - as it was always called now - but from the wrong suppliers!
Corona vaccination: "Scandalous results of a policy that is not due diligence" - FDP man judges hard at Plasberg
Plasberg asks everyone: If we didn't know which vaccine would win, why didn't we buy from all of them?
And resold everything that we don't need in the end?
Cost point - according to one player - 10 billion euros.
FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing
has the floor and digs into the wound almost with relish: Obviously, at the European level, “national particular interests have meant that we are all equally poorly cared for”, he complains.
The “European way” has done Europe a disservice.
Wissing's devastating verdict: “These are scandalous results of an obviously improper policy!
That's a catastrophe!"
The liberal continues: Now the country has to watch "as a vaccine that was developed and manufactured in Germany is inoculated in the USA, in Israel, in Great Britain, while we have to live with an undersupply of the population!"
"Apparently, at the # EU level, national interests have meant that we now have to struggle with an undersupply of the #vaccine," criticized the @fdp politician @Wissing at #hartaberfair @DasErste.
"These are scandalous results of a frivolous #policy."
pic.twitter.com/Z7nmpEk3hw
- tough but fair (@hartaberfair) January 5, 2021
Donald Trump as a dealmaker?
Plasberg praises US presidents
The moderator surprises: Plasberg brings the outgoing US President
Donald Trump
into the field as a potent dealmaker.
One-player interview: "Donald Trump had already signed contracts in the summer and secured more than a billion vaccine doses."
SPD expert Karl Lauterbach
confirms: "Europe only had two billion euros available for the preliminary contracts," he reports.
“That was far too little.
Trump had invested twelve billion dollars at the same time! ”Plasberg insists on provoking the audience with the question:“ What can Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Benjamin Netanyahu do better than Ursula von der Leyen and maybe our government too? ".
The only one who dares to express criticism is
EU politician Liese.
He catches a smug counterattack from Plasberg: "He has the difficult position here to be the only one in the group to defend EU politics," says the moderator with a view to Liese's objection.
That brings another problem into play: Pfizer's disclaimers.
The US pharmaceutical company had announced that it
would
not be liable for
undesirable developments during the vaccination process
.
As a result, the
Greens
and
leftists
initially rejected the purchase of the vaccine in the EU Parliament.
Who is liable if problems arise with the #corona vaccine?
The negotiation about it delayed the delivery of the #vaccines, says @ CDU politician @peterliese at #hartaberfair @DasErste.
#Trump obviously signed worse liability rules than the #EU.
pic.twitter.com/J3HsxvedPb
- tough but fair (@hartaberfair) January 4, 2021
Corona vaccination under fire: Merkel's GroKo in trouble - "That shows how much the hut burns"
Plasberg weighs down the issue of EU disputes and directs the focus to the
German government court case
: “There is a catalog of questions from Scholz to Spahn, slightly inquisitorial in the tone.
A minister of one government sends another minister a questionnaire! "
The connected Wissing pours fuel on the fire: “Mr. Spahn obviously wanted to procure more vaccine, with an alliance of individual European countries.
The
Chancellor
should not have wanted that. "Feldenkirchen continues to heat:" A questionnaire from the Vice Chancellor to the Minister of Health!
Past the Chancellor!
The harmony in the coalition is obviously over. ”The SZ colleague draws the conclusion:“ That shows how much the hut burns! ”
Lauterbach vigorously intervenes: “There must be no coalition conflict,” he demands.
The next three months will be by far the most severe of the pandemic, ”warns the SPD expert.
"We have to stick together!"
"Hard but fair": "Extended" corona vaccination could resolve the vaccination backlog in the short term
Plasberg leads on to the next topic - Lauterbach is allowed to speak.
The focus is on the English vaccination strategy of injecting the second dose not three but twelve weeks after the first.
He does the math: “Then we would have twice as much vaccine for the critical three months.
We would be missing that in April, May, June, but by then other vaccines will be added. "
"Don't loosen up too soon."
This is what the @ SPD health expert @Karl_Lauterbach demands.
"We must not confuse the population with a possible #lockdown end that we cannot adhere to anyway."
Topic at #hartaberfair @DasErste: #Vaccinations #Corona pandemic pic.twitter.com/VHEHvDI81f
- tough but fair (@hartaberfair) January 4, 2021
"After the first vaccination, the vaccination protection is already 90 percent in place," confirms SZ journalist Berndt.
But up to three months at most - then the second vaccination has to come!
Plasberg wants to know: is it that easy?
Can conditions and admission be changed?
“Yes,” says Wissing, “it works”.
And reveals: These and ten other changes are already in the making.
The
Biontech vaccinations are
currently also to be extended from five to six vaccinations per ampoule.
"In view of the limited availability of # Covid vaccination doses, the second #Corona vaccination should be delayed, but not missed," says @ SZ science journalist @ChristinaBerndt.
At #hartaberfair @DasErste she explains, among other things, how the second vaccination works.
pic.twitter.com/BYqFXFBFB6
- tough but fair (@hartaberfair) January 4, 2021
Plasberg says goodbye dryly: "We hope for the summer".
"Hard but fair" special broadcast on the corona vaccination: the conclusion
Rapid pace of the program for the rapidly assembled troop.
Lots of facts, backgrounds and clear criticism.
For the viewer, the
special talk provided
a good overview of the current situation and possibly a ray of hope - albeit a small one: everything is currently being done to correct the mistakes of the last few months as quickly as possible.
At least that's what the politicians involved say.
