"Hard but fair": How do you deal with vaccine skeptics? Looking at Israel makes you jealous

How does Germany get out of the corona tunnel? The guests will discuss this at Frank Plasberg’s “Hard but fair” on Monday. One thing is certain: it doesn’t work without vaccination.

Berlin – On the day of the vaccination summit, Frank Plasberg and his guests discussed the light at the end of the Corona tunnel in his talk show “Hart aber fair” on ARD. Obviously, this is getting brighter, as the title of the show suggests: “Vaccinate Lichtblick: What you need to know now!” In times of latent hysteria, where even a bunch of unsuccessful protest clips by actors can trigger almost hysterical debates, a pleasantly pragmatic approach .

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced it in the afternoon: The prioritization of vaccinations against the coronavirus should be lifted by the beginning of June at the latest. Anke Richter-Scheer, family doctor and head of the Minden-Lübbecke vaccination center, pleaded for an immediate lifting. This makes sense for the sole reason that, at the end of the day, the general practitioners are not faced with the problem of not having enough citizens in the practice to get rid of the vaccine.

“Hard but fair” (ARD): Corona vaccination center manager demands that vaccination prioritization be abandoned

Dilek Kalayci, SPD Senator for Health, Care and Equality in the Berlin Senate, emphasized that this decision has already been made in Berlin, at least for the Astrazeneca vaccine. And even if some population groups are still worried about side effects, the demand for the unpopular substance is enormous.

Carsten Watzl, immunologist at the Leibniz Institute for Labor Research in Dortmund, took a slightly different position. He pointed out that the prioritization was primarily aimed at protecting the most vulnerable groups. And the most vulnerable group is still the elderly.

Vaccination against Corona: FDP politician criticized the speed at “Hart aber fair” (ARD)

Either way, the vaccination rate ultimately depends on the availability of the vaccines. One aspect that Johannes Vogel, member of the Bundestag and FDP General Secretary in North Rhine-Westphalia, wanted to emphasize again and again, as an opposition politician it is easy to denounce the actual or supposed failure of the governing parties. Vogel also complained that in some federal states or regions there was no vaccination at the weekend. The FDP man probably did not want to take into account that doctors and nurses occasionally need a break.

One question should also arise very soon: What happens if the population slowly approaches herd immunity, but 20-25% of people still refuse to be vaccinated? Will social pressure be enough to convince vaccine skeptics? Asked Stephan Grünewald, psychologist and founder of the Rheingold Institute. Dilek Kalayci hopes for a sense of community and the knowledge that a vaccination not only protects yourself, but also those around you.

ARD studio manager at “Hard but fair”: Looking at Israel makes you jealous

A look at Israel shows that with a good 60% vaccinated population there, the situation is clearly relaxed again, people drink and celebrate like before Corona, as Susanne Glass, head of the ARD studio in Tel Aviv, reported. As a war reporter, she was tough, but the joy of going out to dinner with friends again, being able to drink a beer in bars, inspires her senses beyond measure. These once normal activities did not yet feel completely natural again, but the view of the Levant still makes you jealous.

But even if the more or less extreme forms of the pandemic will be over soon, Carsten Watzl pointed out just as realistically as pragmatically: Corona will stay forever, so there are only two options: Either you get vaccinated or you get it it someday. In this respect, every citizen should take the opportunity to vaccinate at the first opportunity and urgently speak to friends and acquaintances who are skeptical about the vaccination. (Michael Meyns)