Saturday, January 09, 2021
Offer for everyone
Merkel wants to speed up vaccination
The coming weeks will probably be the worst of the pandemic, warns Chancellor Merkel in her first video podcast in the new year. She promises faster vaccinations and defends herself against criticism of the joint procurement of the vaccine at European level.
Chancellor Angela Merkel firmly expects a faster pace of vaccination against the corona virus. "It's a slow start. A few hundred thousand are vaccinated, and there are more every day. The pace will pick up," said the CDU politician in her first video podcast in the new year. "We will have enough vaccine available for everyone in Germany. We will be able to offer more people every month and ultimately anyone who wants it."
At the same time, Merkel defended the joint European procurement of the vaccine. "I am firmly convinced that it was good to go on the European path. A virus that hits us all cannot be defeated by any country alone. No country, including Germany, would be safe from the virus if its friends and neighbors wouldn't. "
The coming weeks are arguably the hardest of the pandemic. "Doctors and nursing staff work on the verge of being overwhelmed in many hospitals," she says. "Even what we hear about mutations in the virus does not make worries any less – on the contrary," said the Chancellor. The goal is therefore to reduce the number of new infections very significantly in order to enable the health authorities to track each new infection again.
The measures that have now been extended and, in some cases, tightened by the federal and state governments, are drastic, the restrictions severe, but also absolutely necessary. "The more consistent we are today, the faster we will be able to restore the state of control, the shorter the time we will have to live with such restrictions," said Merkel, referring to the assessment of scientists. Therefore, the lockdown imposed by January 31 and the restriction in the private sector are important.
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