Lauterbach is taking the fight to the corona
Karl Lauterbach is repeatedly the target of harsh attacks by Wolfgang Kubicki. In an interview, the health minister now defends himself with clear words. He doesn't comment on all of the FDP politician's statements, but also talks about mistakes.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach defends himself against an attack by FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki on his person in connection with the so-called RKI protocols. "I strongly warn against distorting the past with speculations, insinuations, and conspiracy theories," the SPD politician said in an interview with the Funke media group.
He responded to questions about whether, for example, a downgrading of the corona risk by his ministry was prevented at the beginning of 2022, also because the introduction of a corona vaccination obligation was being prepared at that time. Kubicki had made this connection in a contribution on his website.
Lauterbach warned against "baseless suspicions". In February 2022, they were in a phase where hundreds of people were still dying from corona every day. "In such a situation, you can't downgrade the risk." The minister answered the question of whether he had presented the pandemic as more dangerous than it actually was with "No". He had described the situation as it appeared in the light of the data and the studies.
Minister does not want to comment on Kubicki's statement
After the publication of unredacted documents about the meetings of the corona crisis staff at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) by a journalist - the institute itself has not yet published the complete protocols - Bundestag Vice President Kubicki demanded personal consequences from Lauterbach.
He accuses the health minister of having an "irresponsible attitude towards the truth" and refers, among other things, to a statement by Lauterbach from March, according to which the RKI had worked independently of political instructions. Lauterbach does not comment on Kubicki's statement.
In the FDP vice-president's view, the documents prove political influence. The RKI had artificially maintained high public pandemic pressure at the insistence of the BMG, the FDP politician wrote. In the Funke interview, Lauterbach is confronted with passages from the documents that Kubicki had cited in this context, for example, with the rejection of the risk downgrading by the ministry.
Lauterbach on mistakes in pandemic management
Lauterbach names central mistakes in the pandemic "We should not construct an artificial contradiction between science and politics," said Lauterbach. Science provides facts, and the evaluation then takes place in the exchange between the specialist departments of RKI and the ministry. "The political responsibility always lies with the Federal Ministry of Health in the end."
He defended the corona policy fundamentally. Overall, they had been cautious for good reason. "In Germany, fewer people have died than in most of our neighboring countries, although we have a very old population." In the health minister's view, the central mistake in the pandemic was that children were not sufficiently protected from the consequences of school closures and lockdowns.
The following is added to the discourse: Karl Lauterbach does not directly address Wolfgang Kubicki's accusations of political influence in the RKI's pandemic management, choosing instead to focus on his defense of the overall corona policy and his identification of the main mistake in pandemic management being the insufficient protection of children from the consequences of school closures.
Furthermore, in response to criticisms of downplaying the corona risk, Karl Lauterbach emphasizes that in the midst of a critical phase of the pandemic with hundreds of daily fatalities, it was not appropriate to lessen the perceived danger.
