RKI boss Lothar Wieler was indispensable during the corona pandemic

Berlin After eight years, Lothar Wieler is leaving the Robert Koch Institute on Friday. He moves to the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam.

Anyone who asks about Wieler’s balance sheet at the RKI, in politics or in science hears a lot of recognition – but also criticism. The digitization of the authority fell by the wayside during the pandemic, and Wieler’s relationship with Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) was also considered tense. For the time being, Wieler’s deputy Lars Schaade will head the institute on an interim basis.

At the same time, it is said in unison, Wieler and the RKI were indispensable during the pandemic. He said he “sacrificed himself,” from those around him. Especially in the early days, the 62-year-old appeared weekly in the federal press conference to explain the crisis. Always in a suit, he reported on the current corona numbers.