The Federal Government's Eastern Commissioner, Marco Wanderwitz (CDU), sees a clear connection between the low vaccination rate and AfD support in Eastern Germany.
"There is a clear connection between the approval for the AfD and the rejection of vaccinations," Wanderwitz told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
He “cannot be discussed away”.
The party is fully committed to vaccination and pandemic issues. "The vast majority of AfD officials act aggressively against vaccination and against all corona measures - similar to the former US President Donald Trump," said Wanderwitz. As a result, this means that the average AfD voter does not allow himself to be vaccinated. Since there is a significantly higher proportion of AfD voters in East Germany by comparison, it is also clear how the lower proportion of vaccinations there comes about.
Wanderwitz also said that he assumed that there will be a corona wave in eastern Germany in autumn due to the delta variant, which will once again push the health system to its limits. "If it turns out that younger people are also seriously ill and that the unvaccinated is heading towards a partial lockdown, I can imagine that many will still think about it and get vaccinated against Covid-19," said the CDU politician. The majority of the AfD electorate is currently not available for arguments.