Covid Germany: Health minister ‘fights for career’ over vaccine rollout and Merkel clash

German health minister Jens Spahn is said to be ‘fighting for his career’ after overseeing a shambolic vaccine roll-out, clashing with Angela Merkel and failing to deliver on a promised rapid-testing scheme. 

Spahn, who only months ago was being feted by those marvelling at Germany‘s early success against the pandemic, has seen his approval rating slide five points in a month amid the vaccination chaos and a grinding two-month lockdown

Merkel’s decision to postpone a major rapid testing roll-out which Spahn had promised to bring in on March 1 has prompted talk of ‘revenge’ in German media – after the chancellor accused him of trying to shift blame for the vaccine fiasco to Brussels. 

With Bild now describing Spahn as a ‘ministerial flop’, the 40-year-old – who was seen as an outside contender in the race to succeed Merkel as chancellor later this year – is said to be ‘frustrated’ and ‘bewildered’ by the setbacks to his career.  

Face to face: Angela Merkel, right, speaks to her under-fire health minister Jens Spahn on the benches of the Bundestag in Berlin 

This graph shows how the UK has outpaced the EU, including wealthy Germany, in administering the vaccines that will open the door out of lockdown

This graph shows how the UK has outpaced the EU, including wealthy Germany, in administering the vaccines that will open the door out of lockdown 

Like the rest of the EU, Germany is lagging far behind the UK in its vaccine roll-out – with Merkel’s government under fire for delegating the task to Brussels. 

While Britain has given out 27.0 doses per 100 people, Germany has managed only 6.2, only fractionally above the EU average. 

Spahn’s promises of five million doses by the end of January and a jab for all care home residents by the middle of February were also not met. 

A leaked letter last month revealed how Spahn and some of his fellow health ministers had handed the vaccine task to the European Commission last June.  

But according to Bild, that led Merkel to suspect that Spahn had organised the leak in order to deflect blame for the slow progress being made in Germany. 

Merkel is since thought to have brought responsibility for the vaccine programme into the chancellor’s office, limiting Spahn’s authority.  

Spahn has also come under fire from rival parties including Merkel’s Social Democrat coalition partners and the opposition Greens. 

And he suffered further humiliation this week when his plan to roll out rapid testing from March 1 was torpedoed by Merkel’s office. 

The rapid-testing plan will now merely be discussed at talks between Merkel and state premiers on March 3, the chancellor’s spokesman said. 

As recently as last week, Spahn had promised that the publicly-funded tests would be available from March 1 in pharmacies and local testing centres. 

‘These testing options can contribute to a safe everyday life, especially in schools and daycare centres,’ Spahn had said. 

A two-month 'hard lockdown' has brought Germany's infection rate down, but progress has now stalled with cases on the rise again in the last week

A two-month ‘hard lockdown’ has brought Germany’s infection rate down, but progress has now stalled with cases on the rise again in the last week 

The death rate has fallen from its January peak but is still higher than during the first wave, when Germany was celebrated for keeping deaths low

The death rate has fallen from its January peak but is still higher than during the first wave, when Germany was celebrated for keeping deaths low 

The government’s popularity has also been hit by the prolonged lockdown which has turned Germany’s success of last spring into a much bleaker picture this winter. 

After seeing fewer than 10,000 deaths during the first wave, Germany’s death toll is now above 68,000 and a weeks-long decline in cases has now come to a halt. 

Spahn’s approval rating, which was 65 per cent in November, has dropped to 51 per cent as of February – far below Merkel on 69 per cent.  

The various crises have also damaged Spahn’s outside hopes of succeeding Merkel as chancellor when she ends her 16-year term in office later this year. 

At a party congress last month he suffered what was seen as an embarrassingly poor result in a deputy leadership election, although he did win one of the five slots. 

He was also criticised for an overly partisan speech supporting Armin Laschet, the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia who was elected CDU party chairman. 

Laschet’s victory was not the final word on who will lead the party into the September election, and Spahn was still seen as one of the contenders. 

German soldiers prepare AstraZeneca vaccines at a former Berlin airport earlier this month, amid widespread reluctance to take the jab despite its proven effectiveness

German soldiers prepare AstraZeneca vaccines at a former Berlin airport earlier this month, amid widespread reluctance to take the jab despite its proven effectiveness 

An economic liberal and openly gay Catholic, he was critical of Merkel’s open-door policy during Europe’s 2015 migrant crisis and was supported by some in the CDU. 

But recent polls have shown him performing poorly, with one showing only seven per cent saying he would have the best chance in the election.  

Hoping to turn around the vaccine drive, Spahn has now requested that the AstraZeneca shot be given to the police force and German army. 

The AstraZeneca vaccine has met resistance in Germany and other European countries after widely-debunked claims about its efficacy in older people. 

There have also been anecdotal reports that the AstraZeneca vaccine causes stronger side effects than other vaccines. 

Of the 1.5million AstraZeneca shots due to have been delivered by the end of last week, only 187,000 have been used so far, according to official figures. 

But German leaders have now launched a public relations push to reassure the public that the AstraZeneca shot developed at Oxford University is effective.

‘The vaccine from AstraZeneca is both safe and highly effective,’ Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday. ‘The vaccine can save lives.’  

Spahn also wants to start administering vaccines at family doctors’ practices as soon as three to five million doses are being delivered weekly.

That would help ease potential bottlenecks at the regional vaccination centres that have been set up by Germany’s 16 federal states.    

Merkel admits – ‘We are in coronavirus third wave’: Germany is in the grip of pandemic as it defends closing its borders and pleads with population to take AstraZeneca jab

By Reuters and Charlotte Mitchell for MailOnline

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Germany is now in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, two sources told Reuters news agency.

‘We are now in the third wave,’ Merkel told lawmakers in her conservative party on Wednesday, according to two sources who attended the meeting.

The chancellor is also said to have warned that any easing of lockdown measures introduced late last year and extended until March 7 would have to be done gradually. 

‘We cannot afford ups and downs,’ Merkel told the meeting, suggesting she wanted any return to normal life to be done carefully so as to avoid having to reintroduce lockdown measures if infections start to rise again. 

The closure of all non-essential businesses and border controls with Austria and the Czech Republic, where there have been outbreaks linked to a more infectious variant of the virus, have helped Germany bring down new daily COVID-19 infections. 

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Germany is now in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, two sources told Reuters news agency (File photo)

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Germany is now in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, two sources told Reuters news agency (File photo)

But a slow vaccination roll-out and the risk of major outbreaks of fast-spreading variants already identified in Germany could make any easing of restrictions more difficult. 

During Wednesday’s meeting, Merkel also said that making rapid tests more available and boosting testing capacity could make a return to normal more durable, according to the sources.

The chancellor’s reported comments came a day after her chief spokesman pleaded with citizens to take AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine after scaremongering about the jab led people to reject it.

Steffen Seibert said on Monday that the British-made jab is ‘both safe and highly effective’ and will ‘save lives’ as he urged people to take it, just weeks after ministers wrongly claimed it doesn’t work in older people. 

He spoke after it emerged Germans have been skipping vaccination appointments when they learned they would be given the AstraZeneca jab – hampering the country’s already-slow roll-out.

Meanwhile Health Minister Jens Spahn suggesting drafting in the army to give the shots to soldiers and police officers in an attempt to drive inoculation rates up.

The UK has stormed ahead of France and Germany in its mass vaccination drive, with Europe's plans hampered by supply problems and scaremongering over foreign jabs

The UK has stormed ahead of France and Germany in its mass vaccination drive, with Europe’s plans hampered by supply problems and scaremongering over foreign jabs 

European leaders including in France and Germany previously suggested the AstraZeneca's jab doesn't work in older people, but new data (above) shows it provides strong protection across all age groups

European leaders including in France and Germany previously suggested the AstraZeneca’s jab doesn’t work in older people, but new data (above) shows it provides strong protection across all age groups 

Real-world data collected in Scottish patients suggested AstraZeneca's jab may actually be more effective at preventing severe Covid than the German-made Pfizer jab

Real-world data collected in Scottish patients suggested AstraZeneca’s jab may actually be more effective at preventing severe Covid than the German-made Pfizer jab 

What Germany said about AstraZeneca’s vaccine – then and now

25 Jan: German newspaper anonymously quotes a minister who said vaccine ‘is only 8 per cent effective in the elderly’

28 Jan: Germany says over-65s should not take jab, because there is ‘insufficient data to assess its efficacy’

11 Feb: Head of German hospital says 40 per cent of staff given AstraZeneca vaccine had side-effects 

17 Feb: Health authorities in Germany’s largest state insist AstraZeneca jab is ‘not second-class’

18 Feb: German vaccine agency says jab is highly effective, though may cause slightly more side-effects  

19 Feb: Health Minister Jens Spahn says it is a ‘privilege’ to be offered British jab, which is ‘safe and effective’

22 Feb: Merkel’s spokesman Steffan Seibert insists the vaccine is ‘safe and effective’ and will ‘prevent deaths’

Spahn’s ministry confirmed it had asked the army for help in setting up two vaccination centres in Bonn and Berlin for state employees in uniform. 

Figures showed that, of 1.5million AstraZeneca shots due to have been delivered by the end of last week, only 187,000 have been used as of Monday.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has met resistance in Germany and other European countries after trials showed it to be less effective than Pfizer and Moderna shots.

Research pushed by Germany’s top vaccine agency also suggested the vaccine causes stronger side effects than other jabs.

The research found that nearly a quarter of people receiving the AstraZeneca shot experienced flu-like symptoms, and around 15 per cent experienced shivers or fever – more than those reporting side effects from the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

But AstraZeneca says the reported side effects are in line with observations from its clinical trials 

Germany was also quick to downplay AstraZeneca’s vaccine amid a row with the UK over jabs, but is now facing an embarrassing climbdown after data showed it may be more effective than the German-made Pfizer vaccine. 

Research conducted in Scotland on real-world Covid patients and released on Monday showed the AstraZeneca jab reduces the risk of being admitted to hospital by up to 94 per cent after just a single dose, compared to 85 per cent for Pfizer.

The same research also showed that just one jab of either vaccine offers strong protection across all age groups, with up to 80 per cent effectiveness even in the over-80s within a month of being inoculated.

The findings will also be embarrassing for French President Emmanuel Macron who previously said the AstraZeneca vaccine is ‘almost ineffective’ in the over-65s.

Skepticism around the vaccine led France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway to recommend it only be used in younger people – despite the EU and WHO saying it was safe for everyone. 

But German leaders have launched a public relations push to reassure the public that the AstraZeneca shot, developed at the UK’s Oxford University, works. 

Germany has so-far administered 5million vaccine doses, or around six for every 100 residents, relying mostly on the Pfizer vaccine.

That puts it well behind the likes of the United Kingdom, which is relying heavily on the AstraZeneca jab, and which has inoculated more than 26 in every hundred people.

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted on Monday that the AstraZeneca jab is 'safe and highly effective' - just weeks after German ministers cast doubt on its effectiveness

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted on Monday that the AstraZeneca jab is ‘safe and highly effective’ – just weeks after German ministers cast doubt on its effectiveness

Seibert (right) spoke after it was revealed that Germans have been skipping vaccination appointments after it emerged they would be given the AstraZeneca jab

Seibert (right) spoke after it was revealed that Germans have been skipping vaccination appointments after it emerged they would be given the AstraZeneca jab

It is now unlikely that Germany will have its entire adult population vaccinated by the end of the year, while the UK has vowed to offer every adult a jab by June 31. 

The UK’s mass-vaccination plan also got underway early in the new year, but it will take until at least April for Europe to start administering similar numbers of jabs.  

The latest German government figures indicate that it will take delivery of at least 10 million further doses of vaccine by April 4.

Spahn wants to start administering vaccines at family doctors’ practices as soon as 3million to 5million doses are delivered weekly, he told a meeting of leaders of Merkel’s conservative party earlier according to sources present.

That would help ease potential bottlenecks at the regional vaccination centres that have been set up by Germany’s 16 federal states.

While coronavirus cases have fallen in recent weeks, the rate of decline has slowed with the seven-day incidence rate hovering at around 60 cases per 100,000. 

On Tuesday, Germany reported 3,883 new infections and 415 further deaths.

Fears that new infections are being driven by more-infectious variants of the virus imported from overseas, Germany announced on Tuesday that it is expanding strict border checks with the Czech Republic and Austria until at least March 3. 

The checks were introduced on February 14 in a bid to reduce the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants that have taken hold in those areas. 

Merkel

Macron

Data showing AstraZeneca’s jab is effective will be embarrassing for the likes of Merkel (left) and Macron, after they cast doubt over it amid a row with the UK over jabs

Britain has been pushing ahead with a mass vaccination drive that will see all adults offered a jab by June 31, while Europe’s drive has yet to gather pace

Germany is limiting entry to its own citizens and residents, truck drivers, health workers and a few others including cross-border commuters working in ‘systemically relevant sectors.’ All have to show a negative coronavirus test.

German border police have turned back thousands of people since the checks started.

Michael Roth, minister for Europe, on Tuesday rejected suggestions from Brussels that the rules aren’t in-keeping with EU law.

‘These measures obviously put a massive strain on border regions, commuters and the transport of goods and the single market, but the protection of our citizens is paramount,’ he said ahead of talks with his EU counterparts.

He indicated, however, that Germany was trying to prevent similar restrictions on its border with France.

Germany is in close contact with French authorities to ensure coordination of border restrictions, Roth said, adding that Germany has so far not seen the new variants of the virus spread from France, unlike was the case with the Czech Republic.

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