After a slow start to the nationwide vaccination campaign, criticism is loud.
Is the government-backed EU strategy taking too long?
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn admits that the EU should have started ordering vaccine doses earlier.
Delivery problems of individual vaccine manufacturers and problems with the allocation of vaccination appointments accompany the discussion.
The population expected "tough weeks of scarcity" for the vaccine against the coronavirus.
Berlin - "
Vaccination Summit
" - The name of the meeting between the government, the
federal
states, the EU Commission, the pharmaceutical industry and a panel of experts aroused high expectations.
The results of the deliberations last Monday sound a bit sobering: “I think we were able to bring in a bit of
realism
today.
Because miracles will not happen now ”, summarized
Chancellor Angela Merkel in
the evening.
Observers are now wondering why it is so difficult to obtain vaccines.
In an interview with
Bild
,
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn admits
that earlier and courageous action by the EU would have improved vaccine supply.
After the summit on Monday, Spahn spoke of
“tough weeks of scarcity”
before the vaccine is ready for all citizens at the end of the summer.
A “
national vaccination plan
” should in future help to better estimate the vaccine quantities in advance.
Jens Spahn: Vaccination doses should have been ordered earlier
In an interview with
Bild
, Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn affirmed the European path in vaccine procurement.
Nevertheless, the CDU politician finds
critical words
about the EU's approach: “Should you have ordered earlier?
In retrospect: yes, ”said the minister.
The decision-makers have also been criticized for the length of time that regular approval is required.
While an
emergency approval
saves three to four weeks time, the EU decided to test the most promising vaccines in the regular process.
"We made a conscious decision to wait for a proper approval instead of an emergency approval," said Spahn in an interview.
He justifies this step with the
increasing trust of
the population in a vaccine that has been tested for a longer period of time.
Nevertheless, there is criticism of the federal government's corona policy.
Problems with the
allocation of vaccination appointments
and
delivery bottlenecks of
individual vaccine manufacturers accompany the discussion.
Jens Spahn denies the question of whether the minister made his own mistakes.
“Against my better judgment, did I decide something wrongly or not?
The answer is: no, ”the minister told
Bild
.
Opinions are particularly divided on the EU's vaccine procurement.
Vaccinations: production of the vaccine against the coronavirus "not trivial"
While the opposition is disappointed with the results of the vaccination summit,
Thomas Mertens
, Chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission, points out the difficulties in manufacturing the vaccine.
The technology for the production is only available in a few places, so that the production of the vaccine against the coronavirus is
"not trivial"
.
In an
interview with
ARD,
Biontech boss Ugur Sahin
suggested
the same thing: “We ourselves depend on the suppliers supplying us with materials”.
Despite the researchers' attempts to explain, there is criticism from the opposition and from the countries.
Manuela Schwesig
, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister, sharply attacks the EU's approach: "For me, the EU Commissioners could not convincingly explain why no more orders were placed, as is the case in other countries."
Similar to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Jens Spahn plays down the importance of the “vaccination summit”.
Opposite
Bild
, the Minister of Health admits: “We have to
remain realistic
when looking at the
summit
.
We cannot produce any more vaccines through a summit alone. ”(
Jjf / dpa
) *
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