A new government please!
Yesterday was
perhaps the bitterest and most dangerous day since the pandemic began
.
Not because the number of infections has risen dramatically.
The level of excitement in the country has risen dramatically, as has the frustration of what politics has to offer after 12 months of experience in dealing with the corona virus.
More precisely:
Has
nothing to offer
.
After nine hours of negotiations, the federal government and the prime minister actually presented the
long-awaited strategy
for openings
on Wednesday night
.
But then this strategy is mainly based on three tools, the conception, procurement or administration of which was largely overslept:
vaccines, rapid tests and an efficient app for contact tracking
.
You can hardly make it easier for a virus.
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Minister Spahn, Chancellor Merkel on Thursday in the German Bundestag
Photo: CLEMENS BILAN / EPA
Should the
disenchantment with politics
soon reach new heights, it has a lot to do with the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Minister of Health.
Neither
Angela Merkel
nor
Jens Spahn
have
done
their job since last summer.
A fresh, energetic government would have been greatly desired for the country and its citizens.
The current one has now permanently proven that it cannot.
This also shakes long-cultivated self-attributions.
For a long time we Germans were convinced that we lived in a modern, innovative and well-organized country.
The pandemic has taken this delusion away from us
.
If the Federal Republic were actually a modern, innovative and well-organized country - and at the same time were lucky enough to have a bustling, ambitious, wide-awake political leadership, the situation would now look rosier.
Then there would now have been good prospects for culture, gastronomy or the shopkeepers, there would have been prospects for more sociability, for more happiness in life.
Reconstruction of the Corona surrender: Nine hours of stress, strife and chaos
AstraZeneca for everyone
Now for the self-criticism.
We journalists have our share in the fact that the
reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine was in the
meantime quite ruined.
In retrospect, the low point of the reporting stands out from a text by the Handelsblatt, from which it could be inferred that the effectiveness of the substance was only eight percent in the over 65s.
The number "8" was even prominently highlighted.
That was cheese, of course.
Today we know that AstraZeneca protects against diseases as effectively as the much-acclaimed Biontech vaccine.
Icon: enlarge
AstraZeneca vaccine
Photo: Hannibal Hanschke / dpa
However, the
Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko)
caused the greatest confusion
.
Your vote to only allow AstraZeneca for people under 65 years of age has
massively damaged trust in the substance
- and has contributed to the fact that millions of cans in Germany have not yet been inoculated.
Why the German authorities believed they knew better than their colleagues in
Great Britain
or at the
European EMA
, which scientifically justified the vaccine for older people weeks ago, remains a secret.
With the now typical German time delay, Stiko has now also approved the use of AstraZeneca for older people.
Progress remains a snail in this country.
Covid-19 vaccine: Vaccination Commission now recommends AstraZeneca for people over 65
Duel in Mainz
A possibly exciting TV duel will take place
in
Mainz
this evening.
A good
week before the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Prime Minister
Malu Dreyer
(SPD) and her challenger from the CDU (I will have to submit the exact name tomorrow) to exchange blows.
The SWR television broadcasts from 8:15 p.m.
Icon: enlarge
Prime Minister Dreyer
Photo: Andreas Arnold / dpa
Dreyer is the catch-up queen in German politics.
As was the case five years ago, her party was a long time behind the CDU.
In the last few meters, however, according to surveys, Dreyer again made an astonishing final spurt.
So it could be that the saying of the English soccer legend
Gary Lineker
comes true
again this time
: "An election campaign lasts 90 days - and in the end Malu Dreyer wins." Or something like that.
Corona election campaign in Rhineland-Palatinate: In Malu Dreyer's YouTube studio
Loser of the day ...
... are the
citizens of Hong Kong
.
At least those who
do not enjoy Chinese-style state repression
.
The almost two-week
annual meeting of the Chinese People's Congress
begins today
.
Icon: enlarge
Hong Kong
Photo: PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP
The 3,000 or so “MPs” don't just have to adopt another five-year plan.
They are also supposed to approve a sharp increase in the military budget.
And then there are plans to change the already extremely modest suffrage in Hong Kong.
With it the influence of the democratic opposition will be pushed back further.
Under the mendacious guise of "communism" there has not been such a misanthropic act for a long time.
Hong Kong Mass Trial: The 47 Defendants
The latest news from the night
Bundestag reacts to AfD-related troublemakers with a new fine:
MPs of the AfD invited right-wing troublemakers to the Bundestag who harassed members of other parties.
Now the parliamentarians have reacted with a new law that allows penalties
USA blacklist ministries and army conglomerates:
The US government issued new punitive measures after the coup in Myanmar.
Apparently it also prevented the military government from withdrawing a billion dollars in deposits from the United States.
Tuchel beats Klopp - record series of defeats for Liverpool:
For the first time, Thomas Tuchel and Jürgen Klopp faced each other in the Premier League - with the better end for Chelsea.
Liverpool have to worry about qualifying for the Champions League
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I wish you a happy Friday
Your Markus Feldenkirchen