Statutory health insurance chief before the summit: Gassen calls for the corona policy to be dismantled


Statutory health insurance chief before the summit
Alleys calls for the corona policy to be dismantled

Before the meeting of the federal and state governments on the further corona strategy, the head of the health insurance company Gassen warns politicians to exercise restraint: Unvaccinated people should not be excluded and the vaccination pressure should not be increased. However, the doctor is shocked by the poor preventive care in schools.

Andreas Gassen, the chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), spoke out before the state summit with the Chancellery for chargeable corona tests from October, but against the exclusion of unvaccinated people from public life. “Vaccination must remain a free decision. Conversely, that means: Whoever does not want to be vaccinated with full sight and risks infection, cannot expect the rest of society to take him permanently into consideration,” said Gassen of the “Rheinische Post”. “I am in favor of free corona tests from October only for children and adolescents and people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons,” said Gassen.

“The state itself should refrain from further deprivation of civil liberties and rather gradually withdraw the restrictions. However, there will certainly be increasing numbers of private organizers, restaurant owners, fitness studios or airlines and others who will refuse access to unvaccinated people, and then the test will be negative no longer enough, “he said. However, he declined an obligation to carry out a PCR test for unvaccinated persons. “I think it is practically impossible to implement if someone, as an unvaccinated person, has to wait up to 24 hours for the result of his PCR test before going to a restaurant,” said Gassen.

In the future, corona policy will no longer have to be based solely on the incidence value, but on a mix of various indicators. He named the vaccination rate, the age distribution of the infections, the age of the sick, previous illnesses, the hospital occupancy and the utilization of the intensive care units.

“The country cannot stand a fourth lockdown”

Gassen called a fourth lockdown unlikely. “The country would not be able to withstand a fourth lockdown, neither psychologically nor economically. A lockdown is an enormously difficult intervention with a manageable effect – compared to a successful vaccination strategy. Therefore, there should actually be no further lockdown.”

The medical officer was all the less satisfied with the preparation in the schools. “The schools are in large parts not at all well prepared for the start of school after the summer vacation. I am honestly shocked how the federal states and municipalities are risking a new wave of infections among students, their families and teachers,” Gassen told the newspaper further.

“We have known for a year and a half that we need air filters in the classrooms. When children wear masks again, have to go to alternating classes or even digital lessons, this is clearly due to the inactive administrations of the federal states and municipalities that are starting school overslept “, explained the KBV boss.

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