Corona pandemic: Lauterbach: Corona measures more than justified

The Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) has left uncommented the demands of FDP Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) for “personal consequences” in connection with the publication of the so-called Corona files of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). “The BMG is not commenting on Mr Kubicki’s statements,” was all it said when asked.

The ministry also quoted Lauterbach generally “on the subject of decision-making bases and decision-making authority” as saying: “There is nothing to hide in the RKI protocols. That is why I have ordered the publication of the protocols. The RKI made recommendations during the pandemic. However, the political responsibility lies with the ministry. Despite the overall cautious strategy, more than 50,000 people still died of corona in Germany in 2022 alone. The measures were therefore more than justified.”

Kubicki sees political influence on RKI

After a journalist published unredacted documents about the meetings of the Corona crisis team at the RKI, Vice President of the Bundestag Kubicki demanded personal consequences from Lauterbach.

He accuses the health minister of having an “irresponsible relationship to the truth” and refers, among other things, to a statement by Lauterbach in March that the RKI worked independently of political instructions. In Kubicki’s view, however, the documents prove political influence. The RKI artificially kept public pandemic pressure high at the urging of the BMG, wrote the FDP politician.

Protocols not yet officially published

The crisis team’s minutes have not yet been released by the RKI itself. A group led by a journalist who is one of the critics of the federal government’s corona policy said they had received the documents from a source at the institute, uploaded them to the Internet in July and also presented them at a press conference.

The RKI stated that it had “neither checked nor verified” the data sets. According to Lauterbach, the institute plans to publish the protocols itself at an as yet undisclosed date.

The papers show what the crisis team discussed at its regular meetings during the Corona period: current infection figures, the international situation, vaccinations, tests, studies or containment measures.

FDP vice-chairman lists sources that are supposed to prove influence

Kubicki cites parts of the documents published online which, in his opinion, prove that the RKI was influenced. For example, he cites an entry dated February 9, 2022, in which, under the heading “Current risk assessment”, it says: “The timing of publication depends on the approval of the BMG, probably not before the MPK on February 16, 2022. A downgrade before then would possibly be interpreted as a de-escalation signal, and therefore not politically desirable.”

Furthermore, an entry from February 25, 2022 is cited: “Reduction of the risk from very high to high was rejected by the BMG” and one from April 20, 2022: “With regard to the BMG, the downgrade should initially be to high and not moderate for strategic reasons.”

Virologist Streeck demands statement from Lauterbach

The Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck, who wants to run for the CDU in the 2025 federal election, demanded in the “Bild” newspaper that Lauterbach must respond in detail to the allegations against him that arise from the protocols. Kubicki accused his coalition partner of suppressing scientific findings in order to achieve political goals. “Such an accusation must not be allowed to remain in the air if Karl Lauterbach wants to remain Minister of Health.”

Spahn: Critics want “kind of People’s Court”

Kubicki had also called for a parliamentary review of the corona pandemic. Lauterbach’s predecessor in office, Jens Spahn, also commented on the topic in the ARD “Interview of the Week”. We need to talk about what went wrong and also look ahead to what we can learn from it, said the CDU politician, and spoke out in favor of setting up a corresponding commission of inquiry in the Bundestag. “At the moment I have the impression that some people don’t want to talk about it at all, along the lines of, everything was somehow OK, and the others – these are mainly those who have always been critical of everything – want to set up a kind of people’s court.”