The vaccination, which wasn’t at all: the case from Friesland had already caused a stir in April. But now there are indications that the number of those affected could be much larger than previously assumed – and the motive more than just an accident.
After a nurse is said to have drawn up syringes with a saline solution instead of a vaccine, thousands of people in the Friesland district might not have adequate vaccination protection against Covid-19 – far more than initially assumed. This was announced by the Friesland district and the Wilhelmshaven / Friesland police station on Tuesday at a press conference in Jever. According to the head of the Lower Saxony Corona crisis team, Heiger Scholz, there are also indications that the woman may have acted as an opponent of vaccinations – and not just by mistake.
Investigators assume up to 9673 syringes with saline solution
According to police investigations, it must now be assumed that with up to 9,673 vaccinations in March and April, more people were given saline solutions instead of the desired vaccines from Biontech, Moderna and Astrazeneca, said Friesland District Administrator Sven Ambrosy (SPD). A total of 8.7 percent of the district population now has to be vaccinated again as possibly affected – including primarily people with priority two, for example people over 70 years of age.
An employee of the vaccination center, a registered nurse, admitted in April that she had filled six syringes with a saline solution instead of the Biontech vaccine. While mixing, a bottle with the vaccine is said to have fallen down, which she wanted to cover up. The woman was released after the case became known. Since then, the public prosecutor’s office and the police have been investigating possible assault.
Suspected sabotage – nurse disagrees
The fact that what is now probably the largest post-vaccination campaign in the state of Lower Saxony is starting, is mainly due to witness statements, as the deputy head of the Wilhelmshaven / Friesland police station, Peter Beer, described on Tuesday. Accordingly, concrete evidence had recently emerged during interrogations, “which indicate that the woman did not act only in this one individual case,” said Beer. But he gave no details.
By contrast, the woman had her lawyers announced on Tuesday that the act on April 21 was a “one-off incident”. “In particular, there were no other days on which the vaccine was not administered in the prescribed amount by our client,” the statement said. The lawyers also rejected political motivation.
The police have so far assumed a cover-up act and did not want to comment on speculation about a possible political background as a motive. On Tuesday, however, Beer confirmed previously known research by the “Spiegel”, for example, according to which the accused shared on a social network posts in which the government’s corona measures were criticized before April 21. In addition, the woman distributed “corona-critical information” via a chat, said Beer. “But that is all that we have found so far in the course of the investigation.” The woman is silent about the event.
The head of Lower Saxony’s Corona crisis team, Heiger Scholz, said the investigations had shown that the woman’s admission “was probably not correct at the time.” There are clear indications that the accused “inoculated to a large extent saline solution as an opponent of the vaccination,” said Scholz. “It’s pretty perfidious to sneak into a vaccination center with the one intention of doing something like that and then deceive people who hope for a vaccination and the protection of the vaccination in this way to deceive very little about it. “
