Berlin – It looked like an oath of revelation from Michael Müller. Following the regular Senate meeting on Tuesday, the Governing Mayor appeared in front of the press and said: “Maybe we have exhausted what we can do as a policy.” This sentence still rings in the ears of many. And there is a lot of criticism of the SPD politician.
Müller meant the vaccination campaign, which has been making slow progress for weeks. The fourth corona wave will intensify in autumn, with higher contagion rates threatening. A little more than 61 percent of Berliners are currently double vaccinated. That is not enough, say experts. You are asking for a quota of 85 percent.
But how do you get the numbers up – especially since most people should have known by now how important immunization is? Müller appealed to innkeepers, operators of independent theaters and organizers of sporting events to ask their customers and visitors to vaccinate. According to the motto: “Get vaccinated so that we can serve you in the fall too.” One thing, said Müller, will in any case not help: a third or fourth letter from himself. Müller, incidentally, did not take part in the Senate meeting. Instead, he was at an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the East German Banking Association.
Dissatisfaction with Michael Müller
Müller’s statement goes down badly even in his own coalition. “The admission that I no longer have any ideas about what politics should still do cannot have been the last word,” says Left parliamentary group leader Carsten Schatz. “We cannot shirk our responsibility,” he says, referring to politics as a whole and the governing mayor in particular.
Schatz is now calling for a “Berlin vaccination summit” with many actors. He lists the district mayors, but also “the supporting associations of the mobile vaccination teams, religious communities, associations, clubs and initiatives from culture, education, business, sport and other areas of society”. Very important, according to Schatz in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, is “a common goal” that we can agree on. In any case, he wants to achieve a quota of “80 percent plus X by the end of October at the latest”, “better sooner and with a plus X as large as possible,” says the left-wing politician.
CDU health politician Tim-Christopher Zeelen is also dissatisfied with SPD man Müller. “Of course, politics can always do something,” he says in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung. Even after the confusion surrounding approval and the restrictions imposed by the Standing Vaccination Commission, some groups have “concerns that must be taken seriously”. Enlightenment is the top priority, according to Zeelen. But the Senate does not even know who will not be vaccinated. “Which group, in which region? This is where you have to start, ”says the MP.
Vaccination progress in Berlin is a snail
At the time of the Berlin dispute, Health Minister Jens Spahns (CDU) announced a nationwide “Vaccination Week” from Monday. The campaign is to be advertised in different languages on social media under the hashtag #hierwirdgeimpft. Clubs and retailers would also take part.
In the Berlin Senate, this is largely believed to be actionism. Health Senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD) also forbids this type of tutoring. “We are on all sorts of creative vaccination routes in Berlin all the time. And of course next week too, ”she told the Berliner Zeitung. Your administration points out vaccination options without an appointment in the Alexa shopping center on Alexanderplatz and in the parking lots of the Ikea furniture stores in Lichtenberg and Tempelhof. The Neukölln district is planning a major eight-day campaign in the Neukölln-Arkaden shopping center. Other counties have similar plans. A S-Bahn became a one-time vaccination train.
But progress is a snail. Often only a few dozen people are reached at such personnel-intensive events. The initial great success of vaccinating parking lots has also been put into perspective.
Nevertheless, the two remaining Berlin vaccination centers are to remain in operation for longer. As the health administration announced on Thursday, the center will work at the fair until November 30th and in Tegel until January 31st. An important task should be the booster vaccinations for the elderly and people with weak immune systems. These had started on September 1st with mobile teams in nursing homes.
And it goes on: According to the administration, the first invitations for the booster will be sent to around 200,000 seniors aged 80 and over who received a second vaccination at least six months ago. You can get vaccinated at the vaccination centers or from your general practitioner.
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