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The time has come: Germany's over 60-year-olds and risk groups are to be provided with FFP2 masks by the state.
For a long time there have been demands from academia and the opposition to equip particularly endangered people with high-quality masks - so that they not only protect the person opposite, but also the wearer himself.
Individual cities such as Tübingen have already taken care of it on their own.
More than four weeks ago, FFP2 masks were sent home by post to all residents over 65 years of age;
the city paid the costs.
In Bremen, the seniors picked up their masks from the pharmacy three weeks ago.
In a few days it should be ready everywhere in the republic.
According to a draft by the Federal Ministry of Health, 27 million citizens are entitled to receive masks - that is, every third German.
With the campaign, Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) implements resolutions of the third civil protection law and the state minister-presidents.
Who is eligible
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The group of beneficiaries includes everyone over the age of 60 and people who have a previous illness such as diabetes or cancer, as well as chronic lung disease, heart or kidney failure.
There is a right to 15 masks per person until the end of February.
The first batch of three masks is to be handed out in December, free of charge.
From the New Year onwards, a small contribution is due.
But potential problems are already looming.
Citizens should prove to the pharmacy themselves that they belong to the group of authorized persons.
This can be done either by showing the identity card or "if the person entitled to claim can clearly demonstrate that they belong to a risk group by providing information on their own", according to the corresponding draft.
But what happens if those affected provide this proof in several pharmacies one after the other?
And the masks are gone before they have reached all risk patients - right before Christmas?
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When FFP2 masks were distributed in pharmacies in Bremen, for example, long queues quickly formed, some 100 meters long.
According to media reports, the pharmacists often met people they had never seen before.
Some are said to have come from surrounding federal states, such as Lower Saxony.
A pharmacy in Bremen advertises FFP2 masks that risk groups in the Hanseatic city receive free of charge
Source: pa / dpa / Hauke-Christian Dittrich
The Federal Ministry of Health is also aware of the risk of abuse.
The Spahn house was therefore feverishly considering how the output could be controlled.
The decision was made in favor of a forgery-proof voucher, which the health insurances send out to the respective insured.
"We want to prevent that business is done at the expense of the weakest," said Spahn.
But the health insurances did not have the time to complete the vouchers on time in December.
It won't be until January.
The citizens then receive six masks twice each with a small personal contribution.
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"You cannot rule out the risk of abuse," confirms Friedemann Schmidt, President of the Federal Association of German Pharmacists' Associations.
One is therefore dependent on the cooperation and common sense of the people, so Schmidt.
In addition, checking the authorization will take a long time for the pharmacist.
“In December alone, every pharmacy has to issue an average of between 4,000 and 5,000 masks in addition to normal patient care,” says Frank Eickmann, deputy managing director of the Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacy Association.
The customer's identity card would have to be checked and a declaration including a signature would probably have to be requested and collected.
“It won't be easy.” Nevertheless, the association “unreservedly” supports the intention to better protect particularly endangered citizens.
"Grossly negligent"
The majority of the opposition in the Bundestag supports the measure, but criticizes the late implementation.
The basis is the decision of the federal and state governments from around three weeks ago.
“It is grossly negligent that the risk groups are not to be protected with FFP2 masks until December.
The distribution of FFP2 masks should have been organized for older and particularly vulnerable people as early as the summer.
Instead, they are only awarded in the midst of a dramatic increase in infection rates.
This is not a forward-looking policy, ”said the health policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, to WELT.
In a motion from their parliamentary group, it is requested that the total of 15 masks should be increased to 30.
Patient advocates call for corona care radar
The federal government wants to distribute around 400 million FFP-2 masks to particularly vulnerable groups by April.
Meanwhile, patient advocates are calling for a nationwide register for corona cases in care facilities.
Source: WELT / Dagmar Boehning
The Greens agree.
"Instead of starting the planning early and setting up the necessary logistics, Health Minister Spahn is now overwhelmed by the pharmacies and exposing those he has to protect especially to a risk - by being forced to go to overcrowded pharmacies," said Maria Klein -Schmeink, deputy leader of the Greens parliamentary group.
"In this way he risks another overheating of the mask market and that with advance notice, which resourceful traders will use."
Whether the capacities will be sufficient is also open to the Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacy Association.
"It is questionable whether there are enough masks available on the market that can be delivered to 19,000 pharmacies so quickly," says Eickmann.
Criticism of the “warm money rain” for the pharmacists
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In addition, there are increasing allegations that the federal government digested too deeply into its pockets for financing.
The pharmacies will be reimbursed six euros per mask;
the total costs are thus 2.5 billion euros.
The German Foundation for Patient Protection welcomes the fact that 27 million people with FFP2 masks could protect themselves from the virus, explained Foundation Board Member Eugen Brysch.
“However, the pharmacists will be particularly happy about the warm rain of money from the Federal Minister of Health.” Because most of the planned amount will fill their coffers.
"This money for the pharmacists would be better spent on rapid tests in elderly care."
The criticism from the German Caritas Association goes even further, for whom the measure itself overshoots the target.
The association advocates the distribution of masks to people who cannot afford them themselves and who are exposed to a high risk.
However, taxpayers already bear a great burden in dealing with the pandemic.
"You don't have to subsidize masks for people who can easily pay for them from your own income," said President Peter Neher.
Meanwhile, the federal government is also distributing more masks - from its own collection.
Outpatient and inpatient care facilities in Germany have been supplied with FFP2 and surgical masks since mid-November.
On request, the Federal Ministry of Health announced that 17,430 facilities had received masks so far.
This is 52 percent of all care facilities in Germany.
The delivery is to continue in January.
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