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Russian vaccine Sputnik V
Photo: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
In times of perceived powerlessness, those who can simulate the ability to act stand out.
Hardly any German politician seems to have internalized this as much in this crisis as Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder.
While all of Germany is waiting for the promised vaccine, with which the vaccinations should finally run faster in the next few months, Söder has simply taken the problem into his own hands.
In a preliminary contract, he secured 2.5 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for his federal state, which has been approved in Russia since August last year.
In a plant in Illertissen, Swabia, the fabric is now also to be produced in Germany, and will be available from July.
Söder wants to show that what the federal government can't do, Bavaria can do it all on its own.
If Söder can keep his promise, Bavaria would actually have an advantage over the other federal states.
But even Söder cannot - and does not want - to get the vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
And the institution lacks data.
Only when these are available can the manufacturer even apply for approval.
And right now it doesn't look like it's going to go that fast.
After all, the results of the phase III study on the vaccine were published in February in the renowned specialist magazine "The Lancet".
Accordingly, Sputnik V has an effectiveness of 91.6 percent.
But there remained inconsistencies.
The Standing Vaccination Commission also describes the first known data as promising.
But it's not all yet.
According to a report in the Financial Times, the EMA is also supposed to check whether the ethical standards have been observed in the vaccine studies in Russia.
Some study participants are said to have been put under pressure for the tests.
Even in Russia, citizens seem to be waiting for an independent review of the first globally approved vaccine that President Vladimir Putin is eager to distribute around the world.
The vaccination rates in the country are low.
The vaccine was inoculated there long before important tests were completed.
So far, Hungary is the only country in the EU that injects the vaccine.
The EU has only just decided against signing a preliminary agreement with Russia.
Spahn warns of the »mirage debate«
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn is unlikely to have been happy about Söder's announcement.
Because according to a resolution by the health ministers of the federal states, vaccine procurement is regulated by the federal government.
And so Spahn announced a few hours after Söder's attempt to negotiate with Russia - single-handedly and without the EU.
Initially, as Spahn explained in WDR5- »Morgenecho«, it was about binding statements »when and which amount could actually reach Germany after approval«.
Spahn warned that the subject would lead to a »mirage debate«.
He referred again to the missing data.
"To really make a difference in our current situation, the delivery would have to come in the next two to four or five months - otherwise we have more than enough vaccine one way or another."
At the moment it looks like Spahn's promise could be kept this time.
But the delivery problems of various manufacturers in the past have shown that nothing is really safe these days.
So it shouldn't be completely wrong to at least keep an eye on the vaccine.
The German government has been negotiating with Russia for some time
In fact, the German government has been holding talks with Russia on Sputnik V for a long time. Only recently, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone with Putin about possible vaccination cooperation.
This is one of the reasons why Söder's solo effort looks a bit like smoke candles.
Other prime ministers expressed anger about his actions, about which he had not informed the health ministers of the other countries.
Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) remarked: "It would be nice if this wasn't a competition now."
Thuringia also received an offer from Russia, but passed it on to the federal government.
Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) said on ZDF that Lower Saxony is adhering to the agreed procedure.
"The fact that this is done by the colleague who otherwise always demands emphatically uniform behavior in the fight against pandemics with pithy words speaks for itself," said Weil.
Alone: There has been nothing really uniform in the fight against pandemics in Germany for a long time.
