The state leaders will not meet again with the federal government for the Corona summit until next week, but there are already initial demands for what should be discussed there. Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) is demanding a step-by-step plan from the federal government, which is to be anchored in the Infection Protection Act.
This action plan should serve as a guide for the federal states as to what is possible or necessary in terms of relaxation or tightening of the pandemic policy, said Ramelow. “The regions are affected to different degrees by infections and must therefore be able to react differently,” he told journalists on Thursday. “The way it’s regulated now, we only produce contradictions.”
Ramelow, who is also currently President of the Federal Council, made this clear in a letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). In it he complains that in Thuringia, despite low incidence figures and an easing situation in the clinics, there are still measures in place that “are ineffective elsewhere due to court decisions or are overridden by decisions of other countries or their usefulness is questioned by individual members of the federal government”. . The coherence called for by the Federal Government’s Expert Council cannot be achieved in this way – on the contrary. He is therefore concerned that the population’s acceptance of pandemic management will continue to decrease.
On Thursday, Ramelow cited the 2G, 2G-plus and 3G regulations in retail as an example of how the measures are handled differently. There were even different opinions from Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt immediately after the last Prime Ministers’ Conference (MPK). In addition, the regulations are now partially overridden by courts, which, however, decided inconsistently. “The federal government must now create the conditions for clear measures,” demanded the left-wing politician.
The current corona measures, which are laid down in the Infection Protection Act, end on March 19th. It is still unclear what will happen after that. Ramelow is in favor of a graduated approach based on the infection rate and the situation in the hospitals. Basically, he assumes that wearing a mask will continue beyond March 19th.
However, Thuringia seems to have fewer problems with the implementation of compulsory vaccination for staff in medical facilities. This should come into force in mid-March and is being torpedoed by some federal states because they are demanding clear guidelines from the federal government on how the law is to be implemented. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has therefore already announced that he will completely suspend compulsory vaccination in his state until at least the summer. Ramelow has little understanding for this. In Thuringia, the vaccination status of the affected employees is currently being surveyed. If in doubt, they should be offered the new inactivated vaccine Novavax. This clarification process will take a certain amount of time, but even after the regulation has come into force one is still on the ground of the law.
In Berlin, too, the introduction of facility-related compulsory vaccination is being adhered to. The Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) expects a clear statement from the MPK. Agreements have to be kept, says Giffey, and she calls the Bavarian announcement of a suspension of the obligation lacking in solidarity: “It’s not a question of whether the vaccination obligation comes, but how.” The Berlin state government wants to know who bears what responsibility for the implementation. The Federal Ministry of Health must clarify this. For Berlin’s health senator Ulrike Gote (Greens), it is already clear: the municipal health authorities are not eligible for monitoring the obligation. There are too many other things to do there.