Sunday 31 October 2021
Grateful for impetus
Bas wants to talk to Kimmich about vaccination
After a week, the debate about the previously unvaccinated Bayern star Joshua Kimmich has calmed down a bit. The newly elected President of the Bundestag Bas also sees this as something good and invites the footballer to have a coffee.
The new President of the Bundestag Bärbel Bas has offered the previously unvaccinated Bayern star Joshua Kimmich a conversation about corona and vaccines. “I like to meet Joshua Kimmich for coffee. Because I am even grateful to him that he started the debate about the long-term consequences of vaccinations again before winter,” said the SPD politician to the editorial network Germany.
In Bas’s opinion, politicians and scientists should better clear up rumors about long-term damage. “Maybe even more people can be convinced of a vaccination before they are caught by the fourth wave that is now rolling,” said Bas, who has so far mainly dealt with health policy issues. “In this respect, Joshua Kimmich’s statement comes at the right time from my point of view.” Bas reiterated the assessment of experts that, despite millions of vaccinations, there was no evidence of long-term damage from vaccines against the Covid virus.
Last weekend, after FC Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Kimmich admitted that he was not vaccinated against the corona virus. As a justification, he said that he had “a few personal concerns, especially when it comes to the lack of long-term studies”.
“Very reflective footballer”
The outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel had also commented on Kimmich’s hesitation in vaccination at the weekend. Merkel told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” that there is no compulsory vaccination in Germany. But there are good and freely available factual arguments for his doubts about vaccination. “Maybe Joshua Kimmich is still thinking about it. He is known as a very reflective footballer,” said the CDU politician confidently.
Former soccer world champion Lukas Podolski believes the debate is exaggerated. “I don’t understand why Joshua Kimmich is portrayed as a serious criminal, I don’t understand the discussion,” said Podolski of “Bild am Sonntag”. The 36-year-old said it would “not do justice to the FC Bayern national player to pillory him for something like this.”
Podolski emphasized: “Everyone can decide for themselves what to do.” He himself had been infected with the coronavirus without vaccination, but according to his own information, only experienced a milder course of the disease with flu-like symptoms. Every professional footballer is informed by clubs and doctors about the risks and side effects of a vaccination, said Podolski. “As Joshua Kimmich – or any other player – you have the right to say: I don’t want to be vaccinated yet,” added Podolski.