Which goes well with vaccination
No respite, history is being made, things are moving forward.
Yesterday came the good news that the corona vaccination of the first children in Germany can be expected as early as the summer.
Today, Health Minister Jens Spahn and Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther are traveling to Reinbek near Hamburg, which I was familiar with just because of the Rowohlt Verlag, which was based there until two years ago.
But from now on also because of Biontech.
From May, the Reinbeck-based company Allergopharma is to produce the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer.
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Jens Spahn
Photo: Thomas Trutschel / photothek / imago images
The new possibilities bring with them new questions: Should we maintain the vaccination prioritization longer than planned, yes, change it in favor of the children?
That would then be primarily at the expense of the parents' generation, the 30 to 50 year olds.
So those who are now increasingly ending up in intensive care units.
On the other hand: This generation is also at risk because the virus is rampant in schools and daycare centers and is then subsequently carried into families.
"The infection rate is shifting more and more into the age groups of children and adolescents," reports my colleague Armin Himmelrath - and has the latest figures.
Corona pandemic: incidences among adolescents rise to a maximum
Which doesn't go so well with vaccination
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Ampoule with Biontech vaccine
Photo: Beata Zawrzel / picture alliance / NurPhoto
It is stunned that in the middle of the third wave of this pandemic, vaccine residues end up in the garbage evening after evening.
A
uf me does this as: failure to render assistance.
It is of course a little more complicated, as my colleagues Julia Köppe and Heike Le Ker researched.
As a rule, seven instead of six doses can be drawn from one Biontech ampoule and twelve instead of ten doses from an AstraZeneca ampoule.
It's not forbidden, but it's a legal gray area.
In such a case, responsibility passes from the manufacturer to the vaccinating doctor.
One can only salute those medical professionals who bear this risk in the fight against the virus.
And you can't blame those who stick to the rules either.
The problem is these nonsensical rules.
If the ampoules were completely emptied, we would have up to 16 percent more Biontech vaccine and 20 percent more AstraZeneca vaccines in Germany.
As of now, around three million people could have received their first dose in addition.
How many lives would that have been saved?
Millions of waste: Germany could vaccinate a lot more - with special syringes?
What the Justice Minister is planning now
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Christine Lambrecht
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Christine Lambrecht is faster than some at the vaccination summit at the beginning of the week suspected or perhaps secretly hoped: A draft from her house for the return of freedom rights to vaccinated people is already circulating that is available to SPIEGEL.
It bears the beautiful, prosaic title: "Ordinance regulating the relief and exemptions from protective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (COVID-19 Protective Measures Exceptions Regulation - SchAusnahmV)."
And it goes further than one might suspect after that summit.
Vaccinated and convalescent people should be able to - so it says there in great detail - in the future, "without prior testing, for example, to enter shops, visit zoos and botanical gardens or use the services of hairdressers and podiatrists."
There are also exceptions to contact
restrictions, but these should only apply to meetings in which only vaccinated or convalescent people take part.
Quarantine obligations should also be dropped.
So far, it is planned that the Federal Council will take a final decision on this ordinance on May 28th.
But maybe it can be a little faster.
Disagreement and justice and freedom: is it fair if vaccinated people are allowed to do everything again?
What the CDU is now threatening
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Hans-Georg Maassen
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / picture alliance / dpa
The Christian Union and its new chairman have to reckon with hardship from their Thuringian regional association today.
Ex-party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer had to experience this painfully.
In the evening, the delegates of the CDU district associations Suhl, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, Sonneberg and Hildburghausen - Henneberger Land elect their candidate for the federal election.
There are: Hardy Herbert, Hans-Arno Simon and
Hans-Georg Maaßen
.
You probably don't know the first two, but you do know the third: Maaßen, the ex-constitution protection president, who went on a political expedition to the far right.
He is the favorite in the running for the candidacy.
CDU boss Armin Laschet has already made it clear in a preventive manner that the Christian Democratic demarcation from the AfD also applies to a possible Bundestag candidate Maaßen: do not form a coalition, do not cooperate, do not negotiate, do not even speak.
It can be assumed that a candidate Maaßen would put chairman Laschet to the test one time or another in the coming months.
Right-wing interpreter wants to go to the Bundestag: of all things, Maassen is supposed to save the Thuringian CDU
Winner of the day ...
Amtrak trains in Chicago
Photo: Getty Images
... is
the American railroad company Amtrak.
US President Joe Biden has been a fan - nickname "Amtrak Joe" - for decades and commuted between his home state of Delaware on the east coast and the capital Washington for many years.
According to his own estimates, he has traveled more than two million miles in his life on Amtrak trains.
They are sometimes very lumpy, but always comfortable - and you usually have a nice view too.
Today Biden is visiting Philadelphia and the Amtrak 50th Anniversary event to also promote its new infrastructure program.
The railway should of course benefit.
The latest news from the night
38 dead in mass panic at Jewish festival:
celebrations for the Jewish holiday of Lag Ba'Omer in northern Israel were crowded.
At least 38 people were killed and dozen injured - many of them seriously
"Mr. Liefers, what message did you actually want to send out?":
Jan Josef Liefers tried again at Maybrit Illner to explain the #allesproofing campaign - it didn't really work.
After long months of lockdown light, it seems difficult to talk to each other at all
Investigations into possible energy attack at the White House:
Two government officials suddenly fall ill - without a clear cause: The White House is investigating possible cases of "Havana Syndrome".
Are there any parallels to the mysterious incidents in Cuba?
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Sebastian Fischer