Monday, February 01, 2021
Hofreiter in the "ntv Frühstart"
"State must offer vaccine manufacturers more"
The vaccination hotlines in Germany are still faltering. The Greens hope for nationwide solutions at the vaccination summit. The parliamentary group leader Hofreiter also calls for state tutoring in production.
Shortly before the vaccination summit, the chairman of the Greens parliamentary group, Anton Hofreiter, calls on the federal and state governments to "clean up" the "chaos" in appointments for vaccinations. Appointments must be organized more uniformly nationwide, said Hofreiter in the "early start" at ntv.
"Some people are on hotlines for hours. Imagine an 80-year-old who urgently needs his vaccination calls over and over again. That is actually intolerable," said Hofreiter. On Monday afternoon, representatives from the federal government, federal states, the European Union and manufacturers will meet at the vaccination summit to discuss how vaccinations can be accelerated in Germany.
Hofreiter also spoke out in favor of significantly higher production capacities at ntv – in Germany, but above all worldwide. "Firstly for reasons of justice and secondly out of complete self-interest. The pandemic will not be over until it is over in the last country in the world." He called for significantly more money to be offered to companies that are in principle capable of producing vaccines. This would enable them to quickly build new factories, says Hofreiter. "I don't understand at all that you are not ready to invest more money." The lockdown relief measures alone cost Germany ten billion euros a month. "It will really be worthwhile to use more than a few hundred million." The faster the vaccination, the fewer people would have to die.
The Green parliamentary group leader called for more control of the state. "What annoys me most is that you think, oh, the market will sort it out somehow." It takes many factories to produce vaccine at the same time. In a year, the product will ideally no longer be needed, said Hofreiter. Therefore, the manufacturers of successful vaccines should not be left alone in setting up production. "You can't expect them to set up factories – and then go bankrupt. It's a public task that we create as much capacity as we possibly can in parallel."
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