RKI boss under criticism
Scholz and Green give Wieler backing
02/05/2022, 7:09 p.m
With the surprising reduction in the convalescent status from six to three months, the RKI caused outrage in January. The FDP is now saying that the head of the institute, Wieler, can no longer be sure of the party’s trust. The other traffic light actors are now countering this.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz backed the virologists in the traffic light dispute over RKI boss Lothar Wieler. When asked whether Wieler still enjoyed the chancellor’s trust, a government spokeswoman said “yes”. The designated FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai had previously said that Wieler could “no longer be sure of the FDP’s trust”. The trigger was the annoyance at the reduction in the convalescent status. Green politicians and intensive care physicians also defended Wieler.
The RKI reduced the period “almost incidentally with the stroke of a pen and without any announcement”, criticized the FDP politician in the “Spiegel”. This is not an isolated case, but a “recent misconduct”. The surprising shortening of the recovered status from six to three months meant that people without a full vaccination status were suddenly unable to go to restaurants, bars or gyms. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach had spoken of communication problems with the RKI.
The RKI President received demonstrative support from the green coalition partner. “Lothar Wieler has done an incredible amount during the pandemic. His expertise, professionalism, and steadfastness in the face of attacks by enemies of science deserve respect,” wrote Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt on Twitter.
Green health expert Janosch Dahmen tweeted: “His expertise is invaluable. Without him we would be in a much worse position today.” Christian Karagiannidis, President of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine, made a similar statement, emphasizing that Wieler’s expertise was “invaluable”.
Peak of the omicron wave is yet to come
The background to the dispute with the FDP is a deeper conflict in the coalition over the further Corona course. There is a dispute between the SPD, FDP and Greens as to when there should be opening steps, which the Liberals in particular are pushing for. FDP leader Christian Lindner had called for easing this week, such as the abolition of the 2G rule in retail. “The time for opening debates is now,” tweeted Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport, Michael Theurer.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit had said in view of the sharp increase in the number of new corona infections that it was too early to present a timetable for openings. Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil made a similar statement on Friday. During the pandemic, Wieler advocates a tougher course in the fight against the pandemic.
According to model calculations, the RKI expects the omicron wave to peak in mid-February. Then the number of daily new corona infections could be at least 400,000. The number of corona patients in hospitals is also expected to increase. However, the number of very severe illnesses in omicron-infected people has not increased so far.