Alternative physicians are considered to be partly responsible for the vaccination skepticism. While their colleagues in Germany are promoting the corona vaccine, homeopaths and anthroposophic doctors in this country remain silent.
The skepticism about injections is widespread in Switzerland, especially among supporters of “gentle” medicine.
Switzerland has one of the lowest corona vaccination rates in Western Europe: around 25 percent of 16 to 64-year-olds have not yet received a protective injection. Anyone looking for reasons quickly ends up with the popularity of alternative medicine. According to a survey from 2014, almost 10 percent of Swiss people try to cure themselves with globules – although there is no scientific evidence that homeopathic remedies work better than placebo.
The basic insurance has to pay for five complementary medical methods, including homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine. The people decided it that way in 2009. Some, if not all, supporters of “gentle medicine” are skeptical of evidence-based medicine. And thus susceptible to conspiracy theories about the alleged harm of the Covid-19 vaccination.
The providers of alternative healing methods could therefore play a decisive role in the vaccination campaign: They could address the fears of their customers and explicitly recommend vaccination. This is what the German Central Association of Homeopathic Doctors (DZVhÄ) does – also in response to critical media reports that establish a connection between homeopathy and lateral thinkers.
“An important measure”
“Doctors who work in homeopathy stand for science and appeal to their patients to get vaccinated,” says DZVhÄ chairwoman Michaela Geiger on the association’s website. And further: “The Covid-19 vaccination is an important measure in the fight against pandemics and must be used on the basis of the scientific data.” A doctor from Berlin can be quoted as saying that she has not yet experienced any noticeable side effects of the vaccination.
And in Switzerland? At the local homeopaths association HVS you look in vain for a vaccination appeal on the website. Therefore the direct question to those responsible: Do you recommend the corona vaccination? The answer is, in a nutshell, no. The media officer Beatrice Soldat writes: “The HVS is a professional association, and as such we support our members as service providers in the healthcare sector so that they can competently fulfill their tasks of advising and caring for their patients. As an association, we generally do not make any medical recommendations. “
But that’s not true. In spring 2020, during the first Corona wave, the HVS warned its members to “currently” refrain from recommendations for homeopathic treatments. Because there is too little knowledge about which means could help with Covid 19 diseases. A homeopath from Bern had previously claimed on his website that viral infections could generally be combated well with homeopathic remedies. He recommended Camphora C1000 to hospitalized patients – an extremely diluted (“10,000 shaking blows”) extract from the resin of a laurel plant.
Globules for the immune system
Even if the HVS has distanced itself from such proposals, it now emphasizes the value of its own medicines for coping with the pandemic. “A homeopathic treatment is suitable for the preventive strengthening of the immune system and to alleviate symptoms”, emphasizes the spokeswoman Beatrice Soldat. “Consequential health damage can also be positively influenced by holistic advice and treatment.” International studies indicate that a “combination of conventional medicine and homeopathy could be useful”.
The vaccination issue is also a challenge for anthroposophically minded doctors. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk, the sociologist Oliver Nachtwey from the University of Basel stated that anthroposophy and esotericism in German-speaking countries are “a very important factor” in vaccinating – a negative factor, mind you.
Also the «mirror» makes Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, responsible for a vaccine skepticism that is widespread in the esoteric milieu. Because he wrote that illnesses have their meaning in karmic events. “Those who did things wrong in previous lives may have to compensate for them through illness – and those who vaccinate themselves could become deaf to the karmic message,” is how the Spiegel author describes Steiner’s position. If you read the corresponding passages in Steiner, you will learn that all illnesses have to be fought primarily spiritually.
Steiner had himself vaccinated
But the Anthroposophical Society of Switzerland denies that Steiner ever wrote or said anything like this. In one Post on their website she accuses the «Spiegel» of a breach of journalistic due diligence. And she refers to statements that the founder made in connection with smallpox prevention: “You just have to vaccinate. There is no alternative. Because the fanatical opposition to these things is what I would not recommend at all, not for medical reasons, but for general anthroposophical reasons. ” Accordingly, Steiner had himself and his children vaccinated against smallpox.
In April 2019, a few months before the start of the pandemic, held the Medical Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach and the International Association of Anthroposophic Medical Societies (IVAA): «Anthroposophic medicine expressly recognizes the contribution of vaccinations to global health and supports them as an important measure to avoid life-threatening diseases. Anthroposophic medicine does not take an anti-vaccination stance and does not support any anti-vaccination movements. ”
However, the Association of Anthroposophically Oriented Doctors in Switzerland has not yet issued a request for a Covid 19 vaccination. The association left a corresponding request from the NZZ unanswered. From the point of view of certain anthroposophic doctors, vaccinating children, which will be possible in Switzerland from January, is likely to be a tricky one. Because they believe in human self-healing powers and see infectious diseases as an opportunity for children to strengthen their immune systems.
This is one of the reasons why some anthroposophical parents reject the measles vaccination. In 2019, a measles outbreak at a Steiner school in Biel caused displeasure. That was probably no coincidence, said Daniel Koch, the still little-known head of the Communicable Diseases department at the FOPH. The measles virus is highly contagious and very dangerous, warned the later “Mister Corona”. “It can affect not only the body but also the brain. That is why measles can repeatedly lead to deaths. “