Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (center, SPD), comes to the press conference next to NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (r., CDU) and Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller (l, SPD) after the deliberations.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Olaf Scholz (SPD) made his first major public appearance as Chancellor where his predecessor Angela Merkel (CDU) made a few words of farewell last Thursday. Scholz met with the prime ministers on Thursday for a federal-state meeting – for the first time without Merkel.
The focus was once again on the corona pandemic. “Right now we are in the process of implementing the resolutions of the previous Ministerial Presidents’ Conference,” said Scholz. On Friday, a comprehensive legislative package of the traffic light parliamentary groups is to be passed in the Bundestag and Bundesrat, which provides for stricter corona measures. “We want to act quickly when it is necessary.”
The biggest challenge is now to get as many citizens as possible to vaccinate. This is now “all the more urgent.” The goal is still to have initial and booster vaccinations available for 30 million people by the end of the year. It is good that in addition to the general practitioners and vaccination centers, pharmacists are now also vaccinating. Almost a million people were vaccinated a third time on Wednesday alone. A total of 16.6 million people have now received the booster – that corresponds to 20 percent of the population.
However, Scholz held back with alarmist words about the fourth wave. The seven-day incidence had decreased slightly again on Thursday. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Thursday morning at 422.3.
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A week ago the value was 439.2. The health authorities reported almost 70,000 new infections. However, experts assume a noticeable underreporting. Health authorities and clinics can no longer keep up with reporting cases, at least in individual regions.
“The situation is serious,” said the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) on Thursday. It is good that the traffic light groups have declared their willingness to improve the Infection Protection Act if necessary. The SPD, Greens and FDP want to tighten the law this week and enable cultural institutions and restaurants to be closed. However, further lockdown measures are still not possible. “There are doubts as to whether the measures are sufficient,” said Wüst.
Stiko decides to vaccinate children
Lower Saxony’s head of government Stephan Weil (SPD) had announced that he wanted to talk to the group about contact restrictions also for vaccinated people in the period after Christmas. Wüst said to the radio station WDR 2: “I actually want to avoid that, but if it becomes necessary, we are ready for anything that protects people.”
Meanwhile, the corona vaccinations for children under the age of twelve in Germany are getting closer – but not yet on a very large scale. The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) initially only recommends vaccination for previous illnesses and for children with contact with high-risk patients, as it announced on Thursday.
Healthy five to eleven year olds should also be able to be vaccinated upon request and after medical advice, it said. Current figures from the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) meanwhile show a further increase in corona infections in schools. One in 40 students was recently directly or indirectly affected by Corona, either through their own infection or through quarantine measures.
The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) asked parents, with a view to the Stiko recommendation, “not to storm the practices next week to have all their children vaccinated immediately and equally.” The question of how many vaccines specifically for children’s vaccinations is also crucial KBV Vice Stephan Hofmeister explained that they would be delivered to the practices. Incidentally, vaccination for children cannot compensate for the vaccination gap among adults.
More: Should I have my child vaccinated? What the Stiko wants to recommend