/FROM THE
Berlin – About two months after speculation about external influence on the risk assessment of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on the corona situation, the institute Protocols for corona crisis consultations published largely without redactions.
The institute is making the documents available in the “public interest”, as it said today. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had already announced this measure in March.
The trigger was the publication of the minutes from January 2020 to April 2021 by the online magazine Multipolar. The portal, whose mission is to present different perspectives on social and political issues, is considered by critics to be close to conspiracy narrative publications.
The publication of the published minutes had Multipolar According to their own statements, this was enforced through legal action as a result of a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The fact that numerous passages were hidden at the time led to a debate about the independence of the RKI. In a protocol dated March 16, 2020, the previous version states: “It should be expanded this week. The risk assessment will be published as soon as (redacted passage) gives a signal.”
The name of the then vice-president of the RKI is blacked out
Multipolar deduced from this that the strengthening of the risk assessment as a basis for post-corona restrictions was not based on a technical assessment by the institute, but on political instructions from an external actor. His name is deleted from the minutes.
The Federal Ministry of Health announced at the time that names were hidden in these contexts because employees also needed to be protected. In the version now published by the RKI it is clear that the name of the then vice-president of the RKI, Lars Schaade, who is now the president of the RKI, is blacked out.
The Federal Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach (SPD), is only mentioned or cited in a few places in the documents, which total more than 2,500 pages. At one point it is said that Mr. Lauterbach’s “statement on the evidence base and political implementation of science information should be closely analyzed.”
And further: “The RKI should make it clear: what is scientific. Evidence and what political interpretation of the facts the RKI implements.” Elsewhere it literally says: “Isolation and quarantine are mixed up by the minister and Lauterbach.”
Regarding CureVac and emergency/fast approval, it is noteworthy that Lauterbach said something about this at the federal press conference. The minutes of March 19, 2021 state that the minister knows “if necessary. more than others.” CureVac has been “under ongoing review by the EMA since the end of February, according to rumors, approval is expected at the end of Q2, pre-orders of a few million for Q2, 50-60 million by the end of the year ”.
The RKI today justified the redactions with the protection of personal data, intellectual property, trade and commercial secrets, as well as special public concerns such as internal and public security as well as international relations.
The protocols have now been checked again to see which passages still need to be rendered unrecognizable. In the new version, only some personal data, as well as commercial and third-party company secrets are hidden.
The documents cover the period from January 2020 to April 2021. “The minutes remaining until the end of the July 2023 meetings should be published by the RKI as soon as possible, after adequate analysis and participation of third parties”, the institute announced today . .
The RKI also expressly emphasizes that the protocols reflect an open scientific discourse in which different perspectives are addressed and considered. Individual statements made in the context of such discussions do not necessarily represent a coordinated position of the RKI and are not always understandable without knowledge of the context – protocols must therefore always be viewed and interpreted in their context. © dpa/aha/may/aerzteblatt.de