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Berlin – Former Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn has countered criticism of the phrase “pandemic of the unvaccinated” he used in the corona crisis.

“What this meant was that in the intensive care units we saw mainly people without vaccinations who had severe and very severe courses of the disease,” the CDU politician told ZDFThis was a situation “that threatened to overwhelm the health system.”

The background is the publication of unredacted documents about the meetings of the Corona crisis team at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). A group led by freelance journalist Aya Velázquez had made the documents available for download online at rki-transparenzbericht.de.

Regarding the source of the material, she wrote on the portal X (formerly Twitter): “A whistleblower, a former employee of the Robert Koch Institute, approached me and gave me the data set.” The RKI stated that it had “neither checked nor verified” the data sets.

In a document entitled “Results Protocol” dated November 5, 2021, a representative of an RKI department states: “The media is talking about a pandemic of the unvaccinated. From a technical point of view, this is not correct; the entire population is contributing. Should this be taken up in communication?” There is no all-clear from the Federal Center for Health Education. Rules on distance, hygiene and ventilation are being given greater focus again.

Berlin – The almost 4,000-page protocols of the Corona crisis team at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) were published yesterday without redactions. A first look shows: They are snapshots that reflect the confusing situation during the pandemic with frequently changing situations and that leave a lot of room for interpretation. This is also due to the […]

“It serves as an appeal to all those who are not vaccinated to get vaccinated.” Then a representative of another field says: “Minister says this at every press conference, probably deliberately, and cannot really be corrected.”

A spokesman for Spahn told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungthe then minister had pointed out that 90 to 95 percent of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units had not been vaccinated.

“The expert assessment from the RKI that the population as a whole also contributes does not contradict this.” For example, Spahn wrote on Twitter on September 7, 2021: “In terms of incidence and in intensive care units, we see: We are experiencing a growing pandemic of the unvaccinated. Everyone who can should get their protection!”

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) informed the Mirror with a view to his predecessor: “Spahn probably meant that vaccinated people could also become infected, that was known and was not denied by him. However, it was mainly unvaccinated people who had to go to the intensive care unit with severe cases.” Many of the measures taken were necessary to protect the unvaccinated and the health care system in particular.

Green Party health expert Janosch Dahmen expressed concern that the unredacted publication would violate the personal rights of RKI employees in particular. Moreover, it was at least accepted that their safety would be significantly endangered as a result.

“Everything must now be done to ensure that these people, who have done extraordinary work at the RKI to deal with this unprecedented health crisis for this country, receive the necessary protection that has now become necessary.”

According to Lauterbach, the RKI plans to publish its protocols itself at a date that has not yet been specified. The documents show what the crisis team discussed at its meetings: current infection figures, the international situation, vaccinations, tests, studies or containment measures.

In May, the RKI had already published the protocols for the period from January 2020 to April 2021 largely without any blacking out. This was triggered by a previous publication of heavily blacked out protocols by the online magazine “Multipolar”. The fact that numerous passages were blacked out at the time sparked a debate about the independence of the RKI. © dpa/ggr/aerzteblatt.de