Tuesday, December 14, 2021
For fighting pandemics
Lauterbach wants to integrate science more closely
“Policy in the pandemic needs scientific advice,” says Lauterbach. Before the first meeting of the expert committee, the Federal Minister of Health strengthens the position of scientists in participating in corona measures. In addition, he reveals the two central topics.
Before the first consultation with a corona expert committee, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach emphasized the importance of exchanges with scientists. “Policy in the pandemic needs scientific advice,” said Lauterbach of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. “The greater involvement of science will shape my work.”
Lauterbach is meeting for the first time today with the Federal Government’s new Expert Council. The committee includes politicians, virologists, intensive care physicians and scientists. “The exchange with my former colleagues will be the basis of my crisis management and the entire federal government,” said the health expert Lauterbach. “In order to be able to make political decisions, we will discuss, among other things, how dangerous the new Omikron variant is, how much boosting helps and how we can continue to break the current wave,” said the Minister of Health.
“It is good that medical expertise is represented much more strongly in the new committee of experts,” said the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen. With a view to the first meeting of the Expert Council, he called for more support for doctors’ practices with regard to vaccination. “I expect the concerns of the resident colleagues not only to be heard, but also to be taken into account in the recommendations,” Gassen also told the “Rheinische Post”.
Booster push is up for debate
Another appointment today for Lauterbach is the consultation of the federal and state health ministers about uniform relief for vaccinated people who have received a booster dose. Lauterbach had spoken out in favor of dispensing with the additional test provided for access rules based on the 2G plus model (vaccinated, recovered, tested) – also as an incentive to be boosted. Some countries are already doing this. The SPD health minister was backed by the FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus. She told the German Press Agency: “Of course, even with a third vaccination you don’t have one hundred percent protection. But even if a vaccination breakthrough occurs, you are well protected against a severe course.”
On the other hand, the chairman of the board of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service (BVÖGD), Ute Teichert, warned against easing for boosters. Such a step is premature, she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “It would be wiser to wait and see how the pandemic develops in the coming weeks.”