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I am against the EU and Germany, the columnist for Spiegel magazine, which is published today. As he points out, the EU has bought fewer vaccines than it needed, so Germany will not have them available to complete the vaccination of its citizens until next summer. “The finding comes too late, because for months it seemed that other countries would have more vaccines to start vaccinating and face the pandemic more effectively,” he said. “But Brussels and Berlin were inactive, often on the grounds of complacency, such as that Europe controlled drugs better and with greater precision than anywhere else in the world.” “The problem is that now Germany will not have enough vaccines to stop the pandemic in the summer, because the EU has bought less; and now it is negotiating again under the pressure of time.”
The magazine recalls the optimistic prediction of Health Minister Jens Spann that 60% of Germans will be vaccinated in the summer. He continues: “The late approval of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine by the European Medicines Agency EMA is the least of the problems. Most importantly, the EU obviously bought fewer vaccines than it should have bought late and in part from the company. wrong pharmaceutical. And it seems to have discarded hundreds of thousands of doses that are now missing. A dilemma with dramatic consequences is already underway for the German government. Without large-scale vaccination…. “Autumn and winter of 2021 could have the same development that this year with a high number of cases, contact restrictions and total blockade ”.
Who is to blame for the “German patient”?
The “German patient” is described by the Süddeutsche Zeitung commentator, comparing the first successful phase of dealing with the pandemic with the second unsuccessful one. It failed due to the long delay in taking restrictive measures, despite the dangerous messages sent by the numbers. Your commentator wonders what went wrong and ends up with bitter results. “High self-confidence as a result of successfully tackling the first wave contributed to failure,” he says. “In a carefree summer, no fall and winter measures were planned, no nursing homes were supported, it was too late to give state money for new ventilation systems in schools. “The coronavirus warning app was not the super discovery promised by the chancellor.”
The columnist maintains that much discussion is still needed to attribute responsibility for this state of emergency. “However, lessons can already be learned and it is correct to do so. Because even if vaccination begins shortly, it will take a long time for a small puncture in the arm to solve the big problem … the most important thing in a pandemic is time. Only when appropriate measures are taken are the situation prevented from becoming uncontrollable. Merkel tried in vain in this direction. At conferences with local prime ministers she was impatient, unbridled. She warned of an increase in deaths and billions in debt to balance the economic impact. In the greatest crisis of his foreign ministry, he could not act as he wanted. “
Vaccines in the 27
For the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung commentator, the delay in the start of vaccinations compared to Great Britain and the United States will later go unnoticed. “On the contrary, what will remain for a long time is that Europeans are not divided into large and small, poor and rich,” notes the German commentator. “However, there is no reason for complacency. Everyone knows that the vaccine that saves lives must be available and affordable for all people outside the EU … The EU can be proud that vaccinations start in the 27 Member States at the same time, maybe two days after Christmas “What progress compared to spring, when borders were unilaterally closed and neighboring countries competed for protective gear and respirators.”
Irini Anastassopoulou
Source: DW
