CDU leader Friedrich Merz spoke out against a nationwide mask requirement in autumn.

"A general mask requirement in public spaces?

no

On what grounds?" Merz, who is also chairman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, told the German Press Agency in Berlin when asked whether he was in favor of such a duty Certainly not” vaccinated against Corona every three months starting in the fall.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made it clear on Friday that he expects masks to be compulsory across the board from October 1st.

Merz emphasized that he was against such an obligation "just because of suspicion, because encroachments on fundamental rights must be carefully justified".

But if there are certain endangered rooms - hospitals, old people's homes, care facilities to protect the residents and the people working there - his answer is yes to a mask requirement.

Merz: Lauterbach "creates chaos everywhere"

When asked if he was prepared to be vaccinated against Corona every three months from autumn, Merz replied: "Certainly not." From his family doctor's point of view, he had three vaccinations and a corona disease at the beginning of the pandemic enough protection.

This has also been measured and verified.

"I don't believe that we are now continuing the vaccination debate in this way."

Merz violently attacked the Minister of Health: "The way Mr. Lauterbach communicates and acts, he creates chaos everywhere and also unsettles the population." This would possibly mobilize opponents of vaccination even more, he warned.

Lauterbach had explained on Friday that it was not the case that a vaccination would only be valid for three months and that one had to be vaccinated every three months.

This deadline for exceptions to the mask requirement indoors was chosen because, according to the existing view, vaccinations protect against infection during this period.

They provided much longer protection against serious infections.

Getting vaccinated every three months would also be "completely nonsensical from a medical point of view," he said.

Against the background of the dispute over the traffic light plans for a new infection protection law, Merz demanded: “I can only recommend that the federal government not come to parliament with these uncoordinated, immature proposals in the fall.” It was surprising to him that the FDP and SPD Issues that had been decided on together "which obviously not only met with no approval in part of the coalition, but even met with strong rejection".

At the same time, the CDU chairman warned of a confusing patchwork quilt in the corona rules in the coming autumn and winter.

If there are different characteristics of the infection process in individual federal states, this must be taken into account.

"But the legitimate need of the population is that there is a regulation that is as uniform and understandable as possible in all parts of the Federal Republic of Germany."

For example, an ICE from Hamburg to Munich runs through several federal states, said Merz.

"One can expect that anyone who gets on in Hamburg and gets off again in Munich will also find a completely uniform regulation in the connecting trains." be accepted internally by as large a part of the population as possible and can be implemented".

Hundreds of thousands of packs of Paxlovid are threatened with destruction

Meanwhile, due to low demand, hundreds of thousands of packs of the corona drug Paxlovid are threatened in Germany.

This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Health to a parliamentary question by the CSU health politician Stephan Pilsinger, as the RND newspapers reported on Monday.

According to this, 460,000 of the one million packs ordered have so far been delivered to wholesalers.

"Of these, 280,000 will reach their expiry date by February 2023," said Edgar Franke (SPD), State Secretary for Health.

A possible extension of the shelf life of the drug is being examined.

Pilsinger told the editorial network Germany (RND) with a view to the destruction of at least four million corona vaccine doses: "The fact that Paxlovid doses for millions of euros are now threatening to expire shows that Karl Lauterbach has learned nothing." Before the valuable drug expires unused, "it would be better to give it away to poorer countries," demanded the CSU politician.

The drug from the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer is intended to help prevent severe corona courses.

According to estimates, however, it has only been prescribed around 30,000 times in Germany, as the RND newspapers further reported.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), who is convinced of the effectiveness of the drug, is therefore trying to increase the number of prescriptions.

For example, he wants to allow doctors to dispense medicines directly to patients – which is usually the pharmacies’ monopoly.