Parts of the FDP and the CDU have criticized and requested changes to the federal government’s corona protection concept for autumn and winter. The FDP parliamentary group leadership defended the plans. This Tuesday, the federal and state health ministers want to discuss the situation in the Health Ministers' Conference (GMK). Meanwhile, a vaccine adapted to the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 is drawing near. The pharmaceutical company Biontech announced that a corresponding clinical study would start this month.
If the responsible authorities approve this, the first cans could be delivered from October, said CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin on Monday in Mainz. Biontech had previously developed a vaccine adapted to the BA.1 variant. The EU medicines agency EMA started the test procedure for this vaccine from the manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer in mid-June.
The EMA is also testing an adapted vaccine from the US manufacturer Moderna, which, like the vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, is based on mRNA technology. So far, no vaccine has been approved in the EU that also targets variants of the coronavirus.
Biontech will keep up with the mutation rate of Sars-CoV-2, said board member and co-founder Özlem Türeci. As the goal of further development, she named a corona vaccine "with a broader and longer-lasting immune response".
Kubicki insists on improvements
In the struggle for a new infection protection law, Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) insisted on improvements. The proposal by Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) still needs some revisions, he told the “Welt”. “It is not clear to me why, for example, a mask requirement can be imposed outdoors.” MP Frank Schäffler also called for "urgent" improvements. He considers the possibility of a nationwide hotspot regulation to be a step backwards. A possible mask requirement in schools is also a nuisance.
The FDP MP Christoph Hoffmann said: “I am sure that the Infection Protection Act will not find a majority in its current form.” On the other hand, FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the “Welt” that the measures were a good compromise. The FDP has achieved that there will be no more far-reaching fundamental rights interventions such as lockdowns, curfews, school closures or contact restrictions.
Draft requires masks to be worn
The draft presented by Buschmann and Lauterbach after long negotiations provides, among other things, that the federal states may again impose mask requirements from October. A mask requirement on buses, trains and planes should continue to apply nationwide, as well as a new requirement for masks and tests in hospitals and care facilities. The federal states should decide for themselves whether they also require masks in publicly accessible indoor areas.
There was criticism of the plan to exempt people from wearing masks in restaurants or at cultural and sporting events if their vaccination is not older than three months. There should also be exceptions for those who have been tested and those who have recently recovered.
The CDU health expert Erwin Rüddel said on Deutschlandfunk: "The path we have taken is a mistake." Basic immunization was achieved in the summer. In his own words, Rüddel expects a “relatively relaxed Corona autumn and winter”. Lauterbach unsettles the population. "I'm surprised that the FDP is also participating in this panic mode."
This Tuesday, the federal and state health ministers will discuss the situation in a special GMK. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) also wants the federal government to discuss the future Infection Protection Act together with the Prime Minister, as she told the editorial network Germany (RND).
