“Dismayed me”: Lauterbach tackles Söder – and completes a U-turn in the PCR test
Created: 2022-02-09Updated: 2022-02-09 14:22
The Minister of Health considers the attitude of the Bavarian Prime Minister to be a “completely wrong signal”.
He is reorganizing the range of PCR tests.
Berlin – “In Germany it is not enough to just get on the nerves of the unvaccinated, you have to do more”: In an interview with the AFP news agency, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) insisted on a general corona vaccination obligation – and explains that the Backing down from Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder "dismayed" him.
The CSU boss had announced that he would not implement the facility-related vaccination requirement in the Free State for the time being.
"It sends the completely wrong signal that the protests by opponents of vaccination and lateral thinkers are more important than protecting the elderly," said Lauterbach.
The minister explained that the waiver of rapid easing in Germany had to do with the large group of unvaccinated people.
"Certain things that are possible elsewhere are not yet possible with us because we rightly have to take older unvaccinated people into account," said Lauterbach, referring to other European countries where only a few corona restrictions still apply.
Lauterbach completes a U-turn: the right to post-PCR testing remains
Contrary to previous plans by the federal government, citizens should still be entitled to a PCR test if they previously had a positive corona test.
Lauterbach himself spoke of a “turnaround” in Berlin on Tuesday.
Originally he had planned to prioritize certain groups.
However, the fear that the PCR tests could become scarce due to the high number of infections in the omicron wave was not confirmed, said Lauterbach.
With the PCR offer, the government is also orienting itself towards the "needs and wishes of the population," said Lauterbach.
"Many are concerned that - when they get the diagnosis - they can't really be sure whether they are infected without a PCR test." However, the prioritization for certain groups should come anyway.
This means that the laboratories give priority to evaluating their tests.
Corona: EU health ministers discuss pandemic cooperation
The EU health ministers want to discuss the lessons learned from the pandemic in Lyon on Wednesday (February 9).
Germany is represented by Lauterbach as well as Foreign Minister Tobias Lindner (Greens).
The meeting will deal, among other things, with how cooperation in research, but also in vaccine production, can be improved.
The deliberations will continue on Thursday in Grenoble.
France currently holds the EU Council Presidency.
"Personally, I think we can defend the restrictions on children more difficult than other restrictions that we have put in place," Lauterbach told AFP of the meeting.
"The children had a very difficult time, a lot of lessons were canceled, significantly more than in France, for example".
And yet many children in Germany are ill.
"This is something where we have to allow maneuver criticism," the minister acknowledged.
Because of open questions about how to deal with the corona pandemic, the left is demanding a government statement for the coming week.
Not only Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Lauterbach (both SPD), but also Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) should answer questions in Parliament.
The Parliamentary Secretary Jan Korte demanded this in a fire letter to the Chancellery.
(frs/dpa/AFP)