display
Five million vaccinations in just two weeks.
In just one city.
In New York City after a smallpox outbreak.
That was in 1947. At a time when health departments didn't even have fax machines.
73 years later that seems impossible, especially in Germany.
A good month after the start of the vaccination campaign in Germany, 2.2 million people have been vaccinated against Corona for the first time - not in a single city, mind you, but across the country.
And the tendency is that fewer are being added every day, the whole project slackens before it has really picked up speed.
This is also because the EU and its member states have not managed to order the vaccine early enough and in sufficient quantities.
display
Shaking the head at the desolate vaccination performance by politicians and authorities is still the dominant reaction.
But it is a matter of time before that changes.
With every week with which the lockdown measures have to be endured, not least because of the lack of vaccination speed, the bewilderment threatens to mutate into anger.
If then in the summer - not a strange scenario - the Englishman can throw his Union Jack towels over Mallorcan beach chairs undisturbed while his Teutonic competitor is pale and unvaccinated and condemned to vacation on balconies, as a German politician one would rather not stand for re-election .
It is all the more important to at least take the next hurdle.
It is building with the approval of AstraZeneca's vaccine.
The European authority wants to approve the vaccine for everyone over the age of 18, but the German Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) had recommended in advance that the drug should be withheld from seniors over 65.
display
From a strictly medical point of view, the German experts may be right in their judgment: namely that there is not enough data to be able to assess “vaccination effectiveness from 65 years”.
But that also means that there are doubts about the insufficiently proven effectiveness - and not about its harmlessness.
Is that still enough to possibly establish a German special path within the EU that would make the particularly vulnerable groups wait even longer for a vaccination?
Is that enough to accept that the entire vaccination logistics would be a bit more complicated and difficult to manage if there were two different priorities?
“Yes” would be the instinctive, typically German answer: “Better to be on the safe side.” But this is not about a conventional drug, the approval or non-approval of which is crucial for a few thousand or ten thousand people.
This is at least indirectly about an entire nation, its well-being and its degrees of freedom.
display
As the New Yorkers decided in 1947, it should be clear in any case: They would have left the Stiko Stiko - and simply vaccinated.
Here you can listen to our WELT podcasts
We use the player from the provider Podigee for our WELT podcasts.
We need your consent so that you can see the podcast player and to interact with or display content from Podigee and other social networks.
Activate social networks
I consent to content from social networks being displayed to me.
This allows personal data to be transmitted to third-party providers.
This may require the storage of cookies on your device.
More information can be found here.
"Alles auf Aktien" is the daily stock market shot from the WELT business editorial department. Every morning from 7 am with the financial journalists Moritz Seyffarth and Holger Zschäpitz. For stock market experts and beginners.
Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music and Deezer, or directly via RSS feed.