Statutory health insurance doctors are stunned, Lauterbach receives billions - "Keep your mouth open"

Created: 12/16/2021, 05:04 AM

By: Richard Strobl, Patrick Mayer, Bedrettin Bölükbasi, Jonas Raab

After a corona vaccine inventory, Karl Lauterbach sounds the alarm.

There is not enough for the booster campaign.

Now millions of cans should help.

The news ticker.

• Vaccine inventory by Karl Lauterbach *

  : The Federal Minister of Health thinks there will be a serious shortage of vaccines for the next year

  (see initial report)

  .

• The Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag criticized Lauterbach for his statements in a letter

  (see update from December 15, 1:10 p.m.)

  .

• Statutory health insurance doctors cannot grasp the alleged shortage of vaccines - the traffic light government reacts immediately

  (see update from December 15, 8:25 p.m.)

  .

• This

  news ticker on Lauterbach's corona vaccine strategy

  is constantly updated.

Update from December 15, 10:45 p.m.:

How soon will the booster vaccinations against Corona in Germany continue?

Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and his colleagues from the Minister of Health have set a deadline with regard to compulsory tests for boosted patients - which a federal state now does not adhere to.

Vaccine inventory by Karl Lauterbach (SPD): health insurance doctors criticize corona vaccine deficiency

Update from December 15, 8:25 p.m.:

According to statements by the new Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), there is not enough vaccine available in Germany for the corona booster vaccination campaign, clearly criticizing.

“We have just reached record speed with vaccination in practices in Germany, when this news comes. A fatal signal to everyone who is currently fighting this pandemic with full commitment, "said the chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, of

. In an interview with the ARD's “Tagesschau”, he said: “We actually set a new vaccination record in the last week. The colleagues have made over four and a half million vaccinations in the practices. That's great, of course. If the vaccine is now scarce, this vaccination engine, which is running at full speed, will stall. "

The President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, apparently addressed the former federal government and said in an interview with

: “When you hear that, your mouth stays open. I'm a bit speechless when faced with the news. ”Reinhardt added that it is completely unimaginable that the logistics in a country like Germany don't work. It was completely incomprehensible to him that not enough corona vaccine had been procured as a reserve.

Lauterbach wants to explain his strategy for the procurement of further vaccines for the booster vaccinations against the coronavirus this Thursday.

According to ARD, there is talk of around 92 million cans of Biontech and Moderna.

“Indeed, we don't have enough vaccine.

That surprised many - me too, ”said the new head of department on Tuesday evening in the ARD“ Tagesthemen ”.

On Wednesday he said at a joint press conference with Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP): “At the suggestion of Finance Minister Lindner, the Budget Committee today made 2.2 billion euros available for vaccine, which is urgently needed.

We are fighting with the Delta variant and have to fear the Omikron variant. "

New Federal Minister of Health: Karl Lauterbach from the SPD.

© Michael Kappeler / dpa

Vaccine inventory by Karl Lauterbach (SPD): Health Minister sees corona vaccine deficiency

Update from December 15, 1:10 p.m.:

In a letter to the CDU / CSU parliamentary group and members of the health committee, the health policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group Tino Sorge responded to the statements of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD).

The fact that the inventory found that too little vaccine was available for the booster campaign was "a transparent political maneuver" for a campaign against the Union.

"Karl Lauterbach calls fire in order to then play the fire brigade - although he knows that there is no fire," it says in the letter to the Union MPs in the Bundestag, which is also distributed by journalists on Twitter.

The decision to accelerate the vaccination campaign was taken at the federal-state conference in mid-November and measures such as increasing the remuneration of vaccinating doctors were taken.

“Since then, more people have been vaccinated in Germany than since the start of the vaccination campaign a year ago,” Sorge continues.

No other country in the world is currently vaccinating more people than Germany.

However, Lauterbach is not responsible for this, because the basis for it had already been laid.

Lauterbach after vaccination inventory: "We have a vaccine shortage for the first quarter"

Update from December 15, 10.14 a.m

.: Health Minister Karl Lauterbach recently confirmed that there was too little vaccine in Germany for the first four months of 2022.

"We have a vaccine shortage for the first quarter." (

).

Now there are the first numbers of how many vaccine doses are missing.

As

reports, the Ministry of Health expects a deficit of almost 60 million vaccine doses.

About 30 million doses are missing to boost all those who have been given a second vaccination.

Another 30 million doses would be needed for the first and second vaccinations of the (still) unvaccinated.

Spicy: The shortage of vaccines reaches Germany at a time when there are decisive discussions about compulsory vaccination.

It is clear that more vaccine will be needed if compulsory vaccination is introduced.

A large rush for vaccinations is expected even with the facility-related vaccination requirement, which is due to come in March.

The federal government, whose Christmas vaccination target is also not going smoothly, is facing challenges.

Too little corona vaccine ordered: Lauterbach raises the alarm after an inventory - then he adds it on TV

Update from December 14th, 9:17 pm:

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has spoken in the ARD Tagesthemen and confirmed a media report: "We have a vaccine shortage for the first quarter," said the SPD politician on Tuesday evening.

This surprised many in a vaccine inventory that was carried out.

"Me too," said Lauterbach.

In his own words, the minister is already working to remedy the deficiency.

“I hope that I will be able to convey a positive message over the next few days.” Efforts ran across all channels, including directly to the companies, but everything had to be EU-compliant.

“We have to gain speed here.

Too little corona vaccine: Lauterbach sounds the alarm after an inventory - "Situation extremely difficult"

First report

Berlin - Germany apparently threatened with big problems in the Corona * vaccination campaign.

After his inventory in the Ministry of Health, the new Minister Karl Lauterbach

informed the health

ministers of

the federal states about a serious vaccine shortage in the coming year,

according to

information.

“The situation is extremely difficult,” Lauterbach is quoted as saying.

He always praised his predecessor Jens Spahn.

But his inventory showed that there was "a serious shortage of vaccines in the coming year".

Lauterbach gave this information to the report according to the health ministers of the federal states at today's video conference *.

Karl Lauterbach raises the alarm after vaccine inventory - "bought far too little"

“Far too little vaccine was bought for the entire first quarter.

The quantities are not enough to drive the booster vaccination campaign, "the Minister of Health * is quoted further.

In the "most important month" of the booster campaign, the vaccine is missing.

However, the situation in February and March was not any better, they said.

According to

, Lauterbach already met on Friday with all the specialist departments of his new ministry as well as with Bundeswehr General Carsten Breuer to get an overview of the quantities of vaccine in stock.

It is said to have been checked which vaccination doses are stored where and which deliveries can be expected for the first quarter of 2022 according to the existing contracts.

Booster vaccine is running out in January - so few doses are delivered to Germany

The result of the inventory: 2 million cans of Biontech * are still in stock for the last two weeks of the year.

At the beginning of the new year there would be another 1.2 million.

According to

, this means that the number of vaccine doses is "one sixth compared to before".

The Moderna portfolio is therefore better off.

Its manufacturer can deliver 10 million booster doses per week, according to the report.

Taking all manufacturers together, you would have a total of 3.6 million doses for the booster vaccination in the third and fourth weeks.

The participants in the health ministers' video conference are said to have been shocked by these numbers.

Even in advance there were doubts whether the vaccination promises made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz * could be kept.

Lauterbach promised the participants of the meeting after the report that he would personally seek more vaccine from the manufacturers Biontech and Moderna as well as from other countries.