Lauterbach approaches Chancellor Braun for botched corona management

Enlarge image

SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach in the Bundestag

Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa

The traffic light parties have only just sorted their timetable in the fight against the fourth wave;

a new infection protection law was passed, the federal and state governments have agreed on restrictions.

Now SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach is warning that even tougher restrictions could be necessary in the Corona crisis.

"We all have that under control," Lauterbach told the t-online news portal.

"If we do not consistently adhere to 2G and 2G plus, we will have a very big problem - with corresponding tightening as a result."

According to a new resolution of the Prime Minister's Conference, depending on the incidence of hospitalization, the federal states should only allow access restrictions for vaccinated and convalescent people and in some cases only with a current corona test.

At the same time, further tightening can be imposed.

Bavaria and Saxony have already announced shutdowns and contact restrictions for unvaccinated people.

"The resistance was too great back then"

“We really have to get really serious now.

We won't be able to do it any other way, ”said Lauterbach.

He hopes "that we can still prevent drastic measures similar to those in Austria".

The neighboring country announced a lockdown for everyone on Friday and a general vaccination requirement from February.

Lauterbach left it open whether new restrictions would have to be decided at the next Prime Minister's Conference on December 9th.

"That depends on whether the rules that have now been decided work," he said.

The fight against pandemics no longer worked as well in the fourth wave as in previous waves.

"We should have started with stricter restrictions four or five weeks ago," said Lauterbach.

"But the resistance back then was too great."

"Since Helge Braun has been fighting for the CDU chairmanship, he is hardly recognizable."

Lauterbach sees a main reason for the delayed measures in the crisis management of the still executive government.

Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU) had "disappointed" him, according to the health expert.

“We have always worked well together and have always believed that party politics was out of place.

Since Helge Braun has been fighting for the CDU chairmanship, he is hardly recognizable. "

Braun knows how little the Union-governed countries were willing to introduce urgently needed stricter rules.

But there was no point in "blaming each other," said Lauterbach.

"Mistakes have been made, and now we have to look ahead and fight to regain control of the situation."

Compared to Deutschlandfunk, Lauterbach also criticized Health Minister Jens Spahn's plans to temporarily cap Biontech vaccine deliveries.

Spahn had announced that he would be supplying less Biontech to general practitioners in order to first work off any Moderna vaccines that were still available, because the expiry date of these in the warehouses would soon expire.

In view of the rapidly increasing number of infections, the Biontech vaccine should not be limited, warned Lauterbach.

"We can't afford that at the moment." Especially since many people in Germany would particularly trust the Biontech vaccine.

"We really have to work with all our strength now." It has been known for a long time that the Moderna vaccination doses are close to the expiry date.

They could have been made available to other countries as well.

mrc