Scholz 'and Lauterbach's Corona expert advice should deliver soon - these 19 experts are there
Created: 12/14/2021, 9:55 PM
From: Jonas Raab
The Federal Government's new Corona Expert Council has started its work.
It is a colorful group that Scholz and Lauterbach have put together.
Berlin - well-known faces, but also paediatricians and psychologists: the federal government has put together a 19-person committee of experts to get advice on corona issues. “For me, close cooperation with these scientists will be the basis of my policy. We have known each other for a long time, ”said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. The committee met for the first time on Tuesday (December 14th). The list of experts had been leaked in advance. But who are the experts exactly?
The newly established Expert Council should not be confused with the Corona crisis team, which is also docked at the Chancellery.
The panel of experts does not make any political decisions, Lauterbach made clear in the run-up to the first meeting.
"We do politics," said the minister.
The first round was mainly aimed at discussing the future working methods.
According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the various experts should formulate proposals by consensus on which the government can base its decisions.
Drosten, Streeck, Wieler and Mertens: Familiar faces in the Corona Expert Council
The new expert act includes well-known faces such as Christian Drosten, chief virologist at the Berlin Charité and the head of the virological institute at the Bonn University Hospital, Hendrik Streeck.
In the past, the two did not always agree.
Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute, and Thomas Mertens, Chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission, are also involved.
Hayo Kroemer (from left), CEO of the Berlin Charité, Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute for Virology, Charité and Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute at the beginning of the pandemic.
© picture alliance / dpa / dpa-Zentralbild |
Britta Pedersen
Five women sit on the panel of experts: Cornelia Betsch is an expert in health communication and researches anti-vaccination programs at the University of Erfurt.
Melanie Brinkmann, virologist at the TU Braunschweig, has been a member of the federal government's advisory team since the first year of the pandemic.
Alena Buyx, medical ethicist and chairwoman of the German Ethics Council, is likely to get involved, especially when it comes to questions about mandatory vaccinations.
Christine Falk (immunologist, Hannover Medical School) and Viola Priesemann (expert in modeling complex systems, Max Planck Institute) round off the women's team in the expert council.
Scholz and Lauterbach rely on a Corona expert council - these are the experts
With Ralph Hertwig and Lars Kaderali, two other directors are on board.
The former is responsible for the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, the latter for the Institute for Bioinformatics at the University Medical Center Greifswald.
Kaderali already warned in early November that the winter incidence could climb over 400, which it did.
Reinhard Berner (pediatrician at the University of Dresden) and Jörg Dötsch (President of the German Society for Child and Adolescent Medicine) were also appointed as experts.
The two of them explained in a guest
post
in the summer
how school closings can be avoided.
Expert committee: Berlin Charité represented three times
In addition to Christian Drosten, the Berlin Charité is also represented by pharmacist Heyo Kroemer.
He is the chairman of the board of the traditional hospital in Berlin.
Vaccine researcher Leif Erik Sander completes the Charité trio.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz opens the first virtual meeting of the new Corona Expert Council in the Chancellery.
© picture alliance / dpa / Federal Government |
Guido Bergmann
Christian Karagiannidis is head of the intensive care register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine.
In the past few weeks he has repeatedly warned against reaching capacity limits in hospitals.
Michael Meyer-Hermann is an immunologist at the University of Braunschweig.
He is known for his mathematical modeling of the course of the pandemic.
Expert council meets for the first time - before Christmas it gives an Omikron statement
Johannes Nießen, head of the Cologne health department, and Stefan Sternberg complete the 19-person team.
The latter is the district administrator of Ludwigslust-Parchim.
"I see my task in bringing the knowledge of the issues of the municipal level to this important body," he explained in the
NDR
.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz opened the committee's kick-off meeting.
The Expert Council wants to present an initial opinion on the Omikron variant before Christmas.
It should then be the basis for important decisions, said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on Tuesday after the committee's initial discussions.
(jo / dpa)