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Mother with children: "Very useful to vaccinate parents in front of childless adults of the same age."
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
The corona vaccination campaign in Germany is progressing faster and faster, and more than 20 million people have now received a first dose of vaccine.
However, one group has so far missed out on vaccinations: children and adolescents for whom the vaccines have not yet been approved.
Parents have not been taken into account separately in the vaccination sequence either.
Read a message about Biontech's progress in developing vaccines for children here.
The FDP family politician Grigorios Aggelidis is therefore calling for an earlier corona vaccination for parents.
"We now have to quickly build a protective wall around children by giving preference to parents as well," said the member of the Bundestag of the news agency dpa.
He suggested inviting parents to vaccinations from mid-May.
By then, there is likely to be enough vaccine available.
"We also gave preference to vaccinating teachers and educators because of their systemic relevance," said Aggelidis.
"Parents are even more of a link between children and the rest of society and could therefore play a key role."
Pediatricians: "It's not just about school and daycare"
The President of the Professional Association of Pediatric Doctors (BVKJ), Thomas Fischbach, called it "very useful to vaccinate parents of childless adults of the same age." Children also have to be protected so that they can participate in social life again, he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. "It's not just about school and daycare, but also about everything else that belongs to the life of a child or young person."
The BVKJ also urged significantly more help for young people because of the consequences of the corona pandemic.
Fischbach described the plans of the black-red federal government for a “catch-up package” for young people as insufficient.
He told the "Rheinische Post": "With the catch-up package, the federal government is threatening to miss the opportunity to also promote the psychological development of children outside of schools." The focus is too much on combating performance deficits.
"We paediatricians very often observe developmental disorders and mental and physical illnesses that can be directly traced back to the effects of the pandemic," said Fischbach.
In particular, children from families in which their parents offered too little variety or could not look after themselves adequately fell by the wayside.
Giffey defends government plans
Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD), on the other hand, defended the federal government's plans.
"We make sure to reach and support the children, young people and families who have a particularly difficult time."
The grand coalition is currently negotiating a funding program worth around two billion euros for children and young people.
The original plan was to launch the program in the cabinet on Tuesday.
Because there is still a need for coordination between the Union and the SPD, the decision was postponed to probably next Wednesday.
Half of the money is to be used to support tutoring and support programs for schoolchildren in the federal states.
The second billion is earmarked for topping up various social programs in order to cushion the social and psychological consequences of the crisis for children and young people.
According to the SPD, a one-off payment of 100 euros is also planned for children from families who are dependent on Hartz IV or who only have a very low income.
fek / dpa