Overview
- Karl Lauterbach defended Germany’s vaccination campaign, citing extensive studies and estimates of lives saved while acknowledging rare side effects such as myocarditis and thrombosis.
- AfD-invited toxicologist Helmut Sterz alleged the accelerated approvals amounted to a human experiment and blamed vaccines for deaths and a drop in births, claims not supported by mainstream evidence cited at the hearing.
- Former RKI chief Lothar Wieler said the pandemic exposed weak health-data availability and poor networking across institutions and urged a stronger data infrastructure and clearer crisis management.
- Pediatrician and STIKO chair Reinhard Berner pressed for children’s welfare to be prioritized in future crises, and Lauterbach conceded that policies toward children were too drastic.
- The session turned combative, with the chair enforcing no-heckling rules and removing several spectators as the commission continued its politically charged review of the 2020–2023 response.