Vaccination discussion at Illner
Lauterbach: “Don’t ruin the antigen test”
By Marko Schlichting
1/28/2022 5:33 am
The omicron wave brings with it new challenges in the fight against pandemics. More than 200,000 new infections were reported for the first time on Thursday, and testing capacities were reaching their limits. The Federal Minister of Health defended the planned PCR prioritization at Maybrit Illner. He has a virologist on his side when it comes to his stance on compulsory vaccination.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against Corona? After all, the course of the disease is weaker with the current Omicron variant. The incidence rate in Germany rose to over 1000 on Thursday. The discussion about a possible general obligation to vaccinate continues. And even Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is committed to this, does not rule out a compromise in the end. That’s what the minister said at Maybrit Illner on ZDF. The dispute over the obligation to vaccinate also goes through the governing coalition. But there are currently a number of other problems. One of them is the insufficient PCR test capacity in Germany. For many people there will only be antigen tests in the future.
Last year, Karl Lauterbach had a clear opinion about antigen tests: “They’re not that great.” At that time he was not Minister of Health and the PCR test capacities were still available for everyone. Now that sounds very different. “The antigen tests are by no means that bad,” he said on Thursday evening at Maybrit Illner. Yes, for healthcare workers, for example, where PCR tests are important, even for vulnerable groups. “I have to know immediately whether the test is positive or not.” For the rest, the antigen tests are actually very good, says Lauterbach. They could at least indicate whether a corona infected person is contagious or not. “I overlook one or the other in the early infection phase, but people are not that contagious then either. You shouldn’t talk the antigen test down.”
“Vaccination is a blessing”
The problem with the PCR tests is the high number of infections. There is a lack of staff, reagents and other materials, Lauterbach explains the current shortage of tests. Virologist Carsten Watzl sees another problem: the data situation. He explains that around nine million people have been infected with the virus so far, but there is a very high number of unreported cases. It is not known whether these people are also vaccinated.
The FDP politician Linda Teuteberg wants a forward-looking policy. For them there is not just one silver bullet out of the corona crisis. Testing is just as important as vaccination. “Vaccination is a blessing,” says the politician, who, however, rejects compulsory vaccination.
Above all, Thorsten Frei from the CDU calls for more predictability. He criticizes the reduction in the recovered status of infected people from six to three months, which happened from one day to the next. Lauterbach concedes a “communication slip-up” here. Thorsten Frei doesn’t want to let that stand: “It’s not just a communication breakdown, it also destroys trust,” is his opinion.
Lauterbach defends the move. He points out that people who have recovered from Delta could become infected with the new omicron variant after just three months. Carsten Watzl also agrees. However, he thinks that people who have been vaccinated twice should also have boosters after three months.
Watzl calls for vaccinations in nursing homes for residents as well
An important date in the current vaccination debate is March 15th. Then the institution-related vaccination obligation should be introduced. It should apply primarily in hospitals and nursing homes. Many experts fear that this will result in even greater problems in the care sector. They expect a lot of layoffs from nurses who are skeptical about vaccination.
The CDU politician Thorsten Frei sees it easily. Facility-related vaccinations have been compulsory in France for months, and the number of layoffs there has remained manageable. “I have a lot of understanding for these fears. But we have a vaccination rate of over 90 percent in the care sector.” He doesn’t believe that there are many layoffs among nursing staff, but he also knows that it can be quite different for porters, kitchen or cleaning staff, for example.
Carsten Watzl does not go far enough with the institution-related vaccination requirement. He thinks it should have included nursing home residents. “If I work in a nursing home, then I have to be vaccinated, but not if I live there,” he criticizes.
As far as vaccination is concerned in general, Lauterbach expects a new boost in the next few weeks. “We’ll get 1.4 million doses of Novavax’s new vaccine on February 21, and a million more a week later. You can work with that.” This vaccine will be passed on to the countries, which could use it to speed up vaccinations in care facilities. Novavax works similarly to a flu vaccine. Experts believe it is of particular interest to people who have reservations about the mRNA vaccines currently in use.
“What do we need a government for?”
When it comes to the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate, the fronts of the guests at Maybrit Illner are clear: the two virologists Lauterbach and Watzl are in favor, Teuteberg doesn’t want them. CDU politician Frei is particularly annoyed that the traffic light government has not submitted its own draft law. And then there is a rather violent exchange of blows in the show.
Lauterbach first explains why he didn’t make his own proposal: “That would have been a farce.” But he will join another request. In Thorsten Frei’s opinion, it would have been right if the federal government had decided on its own draft law, which every member of parliament would then have voted on according to his or her conscience. “Why didn’t you do that?” he asks. Lauterbach’s answer: “Because we didn’t decide to do it.” Frei repeats his accusation, and Lauterbach explains: “If we decide not to make a law, then it is up to the MPs to make one.”
“Then what do we need a government for?” asks Frei. Lauterbach replies: “For everything else.”
Now his coalition colleague Teuteberg is joining the minister: “In some places we had too few debates during the pandemic, and a self-confident Bundestag is also a good thing.”
After all, there was a bit of life in the booth for a short time – with an otherwise somewhat monotonous, but at least quite informative talk show.