In the face of the fourth corona wave, Germany is vaccinating far too slowly.
That is why Olaf Scholz turns to the unwilling.
The Vice-Chancellor slipped out a word that the Union was right on his face.
Munich - It is one of Olaf Scholz's great strengths.
Not only with regard to the federal election, but his entire career as a politician.
The SPD chancellor candidate weighs every word carefully, verbal slips are hardly passed down from him.
Then say less, avoid sensitive topics.
The best example was recently the first TV triad on RTL, when he held back elegantly and scored with it.
This statesmanlike attitude is likely to have brought the finance minister and vice-chancellor into pole position in a three-way battle with Annalena Baerbock and Armin Laschet.
But of course the political competition is all the more hungry for a derailment of the calm North German.
Scholz and the guinea pigs: unfortunate choice of words when appealing to people unwilling to vaccinate
In fact, Scholz has now involuntarily delivered ammunition to the competing camps. When he wanted to encourage those unwilling to vaccinate once more, the 63-year-old let himself be carried away to this statement in an interview with NRW local radio stations: “50 million have now been vaccinated twice. We were all the guinea pigs for those who waited until now. Therefore, as one of these 50 million, I say: It went well, please join in! ”An encouragement, an appeal. In order to cope with the corona crisis faster together.
But when the word "guinea pig" was used, especially leading politicians of the Union perked up their ears.
Because that would suggest that there were definitely doubts about the administration of the vaccine.
As if there was a real risk that vaccinations could have serious side effects across the board.
And the government practically thought: We'll just take a look to see if everything turns out well.
Which of course would have been absolute madness.
Therefore, the CDU switched to attack.
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Bad news from the Union?
SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz suddenly offers a target for attack during the election campaign.
© Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Scholz and the guinea pigs: Spahn sees "steep template" for vaccine opponents
Jens Spahn railed on Twitter: “This is really nonsense. The vaccine is approved, safe and effective. Such a choice of words is a template for those who want to undermine trust with half-truths and falsehoods. The vaccination protects and has already saved many thousands of lives. ”It goes without saying that the Minister of Health reacted particularly touchingly to Scholz's statement.
CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak also took the current coalition partner to his chest, complained according to
Focus
: "You have to be able to expect seriousness and careful choice of words from a vice-chancellor when
dealing
with such a sensitive topic." Just like Scholz has been doing for years is used to. Even if he
mentioned something with a wink
on the same topic in the
Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung
a
few weeks
ago, “nobody has become an alien”.
This teasing did not detract from his popularity.
Presumably, the "guinea pig" will soon be forgiven him.
But of course the Union has to try everything to spark a scandal out of it.
At the state party conference of the Brandenburg CDU in Potsdam on Saturday, Scholz opponent Laschet was a bit closer to the people than usual and wrote in the SPD man's register: "People are not guinea pigs in this country."
(Mg)
List of rubric lists: © Kay Nietfeld / dpa