Thursday, April 1st, 2021
“Don’t let me patronize”
Seehofer does not want to be an Astrazeneca role model
Interior Minister Seehofer’s political career ends in autumn. On the way there, he remains true to his resolute line. He does not want to follow a vaccination call to take away the people’s worries about the Astrazeneca vaccine.
Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer expressly does not want to be vaccinated with the vaccine from Astrazeneca at the moment. “The answer to Jens Spahn’s request is no,” Seehofer told the “Bild” newspaper. However, the 71-year-old is not concerned with evaluating the vaccine itself. “I will not be patronized.”
According to the report, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn asked his ministerial colleagues over 60 to be vaccinated with the Astrazeneca vaccine as a confidence-building measure at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Also in the group of prime ministers, who had discussed the approval of the vaccine on Tuesday, Spahn pointed out that a vaccination with Astrazeneca could set a good example, the newspaper reported on.
Following a recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission, the federal and state governments decided on Tuesday that the Astrazeneca vaccine should generally only be vaccinated in people over 60 years of age. The background is thrombosis, especially in younger women.
Vaccinating politicians now appears to be a real option to build confidence in the population. The agreed option clause for people over 60 changes the situation for many top politicians. Because in addition to Merkel and some ministers, the Prime Ministers Reiner Haseloff (Saxony-Anhalt), Volker Bouffier (Hesse), Malu Dreyer (Rhineland-Palatinate), Stephan Weil (Lower Saxony) and Armin Laschet (North Rhine-Westphalia) are older than 60 years. So you could now slip into the new priority group and be protected from Corona without fear of a pushover image. However, on Wednesday only North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate announced that they would now pave the way for a vaccination for all citizens aged 60 and over.
Hesse’s Prime Minister Bouffier is calm on the subject: “Yes, when it’s my turn, I will also be vaccinated with Astrazeneca. And by the way, I am now waiting for an appointment,” he said on Wednesday. For Chancellor Merkel, however, something could actually change: The Berlin Senate announced that from Good Friday, 60 to 70-year-olds could also get a vaccination appointment in the capital.
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