Thursday, October 28, 2021
Aschenberg-Dugnus in the “early start”
The “up your sleeves” campaign “is not enough”
The corona numbers are increasing, but according to the plan of the traffic light parties, the epidemic emergency should definitely end in March. Now Germany must address vaccine skeptics directly, says FDP health expert Aschenberg-Dugnus.
The traffic light parties do not want to prolong the epidemic emergency – despite the rising number of corona infections and increasing stress on hospitals. The health policy spokeswoman for the FDP, Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, defends the decision. “We’re not ignoring the fact that the virus is still there. But we’re in a different situation than we were a year and a half ago.”
The health politician points above all to the vaccination progress. In addition, the Corona situation must be assessed differently from region to region, the FDP politician continued. “We have different situations in the federal states,” says Aschenberg-Dugnus, citing Schleswig-Holstein, her home country, as an example. There the incidence and the hospitalization rate are very low. “A state like Schleswig-Holstein must of course be assessed differently than Bavaria, for example, which has completely different figures.”
The compromise of the traffic light parties provides that after the end of the emergency, a temporary solution for the federal states should take effect. Aschenberg-Dugnus emphasizes that the extended corona measures should then expire in spring at the latest: “We have jointly decided to give the countries something to hand by March 20, 2022. But after that it will be over.” The federal states can still order measures such as the mask requirement, the application of the 3G rule and keeping a distance in public spaces until March.
Address vaccine skeptics directly
From the point of view of Aschenberg-Dugnus, these measures are sufficient to combat a new corona wave, “but we now have to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate”. Therefore, the FDP, SPD and Greens agreed to start the vaccination campaign again. Aschenberg-Dugnus says that you have to look closely to see who does not get vaccinated and then address these people directly. “It is not enough if we continue the up our sleeves campaign. We have to talk to street workers, influencers and the people who have something to say in the communities,” said the FDP health politician. “We will now get this off the ground and are in good spirits to be able to further increase the vaccination rate.”
Children under the age of 12 are currently not able to be vaccinated. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) wants to decide by Christmas whether corona vaccinations can be approved for children from the age of five. When asked whether she is still expecting approval this year, Aschenberg-Dugnus says: “That must be decided by the experts. For me, it is important that the Standing Vaccination Commission makes its decision.” The FDP politician emphasizes that the decision on such steps must lie with science and not with politics: “The population appreciates the quality of the vaccination commission and also depends on it, so politicians have to stay out of it.”