Today the question is why the third-party vaccinations in Germany are so slow - in contrast to other countries.
It is also about the coalition negotiations, the conflict between the EU and Poland and the new NATO defense strategy.
The pandemic is not over
The corona numbers in Europe are rising again, including in Germany, and there are dramatic images from some countries: In
Romania and Russia, where far too few people are vaccinated
, the intensive care units are full, and Moscow is even going into lockdown for a week.
But the Robert Koch Institute is also warning of rising numbers in Germany and,
according to leading scientists
,
the vaccination rate
in Germany is
still too low to
get through the winter safely.
And then there is also
the matter of the third vaccination
: According to many studies, the protective effect of the vaccination decreases significantly after about six months, especially in the elderly and immunosuppressed people.
In Israel, after a renewed increase in infections, large parts of the population are now third-vaccinated - so far, no one can say for sure whether this is really necessary. But countries like Lithuania also offer boosters for the whole population, in the USA they will soon be recommended for everyone over 40. Of course, the moral dilemma remains that large parts of the world's population have not yet been vaccinated.
In Germany, the Standing Vaccination Commission recommended booster shots only for people over the age of 70 and other particularly vulnerable groups at the beginning of October after a lengthy examination - at least six months after the complete vaccination. If you look at the daily vaccination monitor, however, you can see that two thirds of Germans are now fully vaccinated, but the booster vaccinations are starting to take a long time. Only 1.7 percent received one: around a quarter of those who received a second vaccination more than six months ago.
This is also due to the fact that information is scarce.
If you want a booster, you have to request it from your family doctor yourself.
With all sympathy for the principle of personal responsibility: That seems inconsistent.
If the booster vaccination is really important for the elderly, a campaign like the one for the first and second vaccinations would also be needed here.
So far nothing has been seen of that.
In the USA, President Joe Biden was already demonstratively three vaccinated in front of the camera.
The federal government, on the other hand, seems to be oversleeping the issue.
Biontech study: Booster vaccination brings high protection
Is Scholz Chancellor after Nikolaus?
Olaf Scholz should become Federal Chancellor
as early as the beginning of
December
- at least that is the goal of the SPD, Greens and FDP.
A coalition agreement is to be agreed by the end of November, and Scholz is to be elected during St.
It's a sporty schedule, everyone involved seems to have a great desire to govern.
If they were really done that quickly, Angela Merkel would just miss Helmut Kohl's record for chancellor: He came to 5870 days in office.
Here you can read that earlier coalition negotiations, however, often lasted much longer.
If things don't go that fast in the end, it could be down to some of the 22 working groups - the "Finances and Budget Working Group" is a hot candidate for dissent, where ideas could differ particularly widely.
At the end of the day, conflicts should be resolved by the main negotiating group with the bosses.
It really starts next Wednesday.
SPD election winner Scholz in an interview with SPIEGEL: "I want to make the world a little better"
Russia, NATO and gas
Tensions between Russia and Europe continue to grow - not least in the
conflict over gas supplies
. President Vladimir Putin made it clear on Thursday that more gas could be delivered - but only if Germany approves the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Since Russian gas deliveries via other pipelines have declined, which also affects gas prices, one can speak of an attempt at extortion here.
But the tensions go far beyond that.
Also yesterday, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, NATO passed a comprehensive plan to defend the alliance area against a possible Russian attack on several fronts - in the Baltic and the Black Sea. But cyber warfare and hybrid warfare are also part of the planning. A Russian attack is not imminent, according to NATO circles. It is a response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014: NATO is returning to its core task as a defense alliance.
Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said this week
that more deterrence was needed
and referred to "violations of the airspace over the Baltic states, but also increasing attacks around the Black Sea".
Earlier this week, Russia had marked the end of the era of cooperation: after two decades, the Russian government closed its liaison office with NATO in Brussels.
As my Moscow colleague Christian Esch explains, this has above all a symbolic meaning.
Russia and NATO: "There was no dialogue anyway"
What's next between Brussels and Warsaw?
Yesterday evening at the EU summit there was a serious debate on the rule of law dispute with Poland: Most EU states, the Commission and the Council Presidency
want to get the PiS government to give in
- although Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki came to Brussels militantly and from states like Hungary was supported. In contrast, the Benelux countries in particular took a strong opposing position. For this reason, Brussels is already withholding 37 billion euros in corona aid for Poland. Now there is a threat of further cuts.
The heads of state and government of the EU have also
agreed
on
joint measures to combat the energy crisis
, which, however, did not go quite as far as some states would have liked: the most severely affected states will be able to offer their citizens grants, the EU Commission will also undertake a study of the gas and electricity markets.
My colleague Jan Puhl has portrayed the Polish Minister of Justice Ziobro: He is considered to be the driving force behind the dispute with Brussels.
He created the so-called disciplinary chamber, which can control judges for misconduct or unpleasant judgments and is politically controlled by the ruling party.
Ziobro sees the EU and its bodies as controlled by liberal forces that are unfairly harassing Warsaw - and claimed that the selection of judges at the German Federal Supreme Court was more politicized than the Polish Chamber of Appeal.
Poland's judicial reform: Kaczyński's man for the rough
Winner of the day ...
... is the US Senator
Joe Manchin from West Virginia
- in Washington everything revolves around him these days.
Manchin belongs to the Democrats, but belongs to the much shrunk conservative wing and comes from a state that has twice voted with an overwhelming majority for Donald Trump.
Now Manchin has the power to fail President Joe Biden's domestic political agenda - because the Democrats only have a single majority in the Senate.
Biden wanted to get a huge investment package through Congress, valued at $ 3.5 trillion (yes, trillion).
But Manchin has made it clear that such amounts of expenditure cannot be made with him.
More than two trillion will probably not be in it - which would be a lot.
But Manchin is not just about money: The Democrats also want to promote projects to achieve climate neutrality and reduce CO₂ emissions;
Some people, on the other hand, come from a coal and gas state and are worried about how this will go down with their voters.
The conflict can tear the party apart: the predominantly progressive Democrats will not be satisfied with accepting Manchin's red lines.
But he has the upper hand: This week, a medium exclusively reported that he was considering leaving the party, which Manchin immediately denied.
It looked like a threat: you need me more than I need you.
And to a large extent that is actually true.
The latest news from the night
“Sorry, that's politics!”:
At “Maybrit Illner”, with the exception of the SPD, the traffic light coalitionists met for the first time to discuss their plans.
Both Annalena Baerbock and Christian Lindner circled the crucial question
Queen Elizabeth II had to spend the night in the hospital:
Concern for the Queen's health.
The 95-year-old spent the night on Thursday in a London hospital.
According to the palace, it was a precautionary measure
Human remains of Brian Laundrie found: While
searching for the friend of the killed Gabby Petito, the FBI discovered human remains.
After an investigation, the investigators now confirm: It is the fiancé of the dead
Actor Alec Baldwin shoots camerawoman while filming:
On the set of the western film "Rust" there was a fatal accident with a weapon from the prop pool: According to the police, Alec Baldwin killed a woman and injured a man
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Mathieu von Rohr