for spotting this], independent member of parliament Joana Cotar (who once belonged to the ‘Alternative für Deutschland’—on which eugyppius recently penned a good explanation for non-German-speakers—Germany’s assemblage of ‘MAGA Republicans’) chastised the government, in particular Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
Here is the source (Stenographisches Protokoll), translation, emphases, and bottom lines mine. If you do read German, use the ‘search’ function and look for ‘Joana Cotar’.
Here is her speech:
On 23 March 2022, the Robert Koch Institute wrote an email to the Federal Ministry of Health clearly stating that Corona vaccination does not protect against infection and transmission. Barely two weeks later, the ministry let us MPs vote on vaccination mandates without informing us about this statement beforehand.
(Lars Lindemann [FDP]: The ministry does not let us vote at all!)
On 14 August 2021, Karl Lauterbach tweeted: ‘And in addition, it is about why a minority of society does not want vaccination without side effects’.
Source: remember this one, it will come up again in a moment. Also: shame.
On 15 March 2023, the same Lauterbach sat with us in the Digital Committee and stiffly claimed never to have said that.
These are just two incidents in recent years here in the Bundestag that have left me stunned. You have lied, concealed, and deceived.
(Applause from members of the AfD)
You have persuaded people that vaccination has no side effects, and people have believed you.
(Interjection from the SPD: Nobody said that!) [see above; I call them: ‘liars’]
Now we have tens of thousands of suspected cases of serious side effects of [the Covid] vaccination in Germany,people who have become so ill after the Corona vaccinations that they can no longer work. But since politicians shielded the pharmaceutical industry from liability, it is now up to the the responsibility now lies with the individual federal states.
And do you know what is the outcome sometimes after eternal processing time and countless bureaucratic procedures? Sometimes, people receive no more than 500 euros a month—500 euros for a life turned upside-down, for people who can no longer work because they believed Mr. Lauterbach and those who have continually lied to them here, ladies and gentlemen. You should be ashamed of themselves!
(Applause by members of the AfD; Heike Baehrens [SPD]: ‘We did not lie!’)
You have pushed doctors and professors, who warned about the side effects early on, into the conspiracy corner.
Some of them even have to answer to the courts [e.g., Prof. Bhakdi]. They treated people who were afraid of this vaccination like lepers,
(Marianne Schieder [SPD]: You are lying and nobody else!—Another shout from the SPD: Don’t lie!)
who can be insulted, excluded, and whose basic rights can be taken away. You have spent billions of taxpayers’ money on vaccines that now have to be destroyed, and you do not take enough money into your hands to help those who now have to suffer because of your claims.
If you had a conscience, Mr. Lauterbach, you would no longer be in office. You cannot get rid of your guilt, Mr. Lauterbach; but you can at least help the victims of your policies. Move at last!
Bottom Lines
Here’s video footage of Ms. Cotar’s speech:
The most troubling aspect of this, to me, is the cognitive dissonance and extraordinary level of denial on part of mainstream politicians. Like pre-pubescent teens, they plead ignorance, deny their own statements, and insist on their imagined world to be, factually, true.
As a father, reading the invectives hurled as Ms. Cotar by her fellow MPs, the closest analogy I could think of is—’arguments with a four year-old’.
Two days ago, I witnessed some ‘adults’ in a nearby village, behaving in a likewise fashion on a beach; some more recent immigrants from the Greater Middle East sat nearby, chatting. The discrepancy couldn’t be bigger, but it is indicative, I’d argue, of why non-Westerners don’t hold ‘us’ in high regard, if not contempt.
So, way to go, Ms. Cotar, thank you for telling the truth—and shame on you, other MPs who can’t manage to hold it together while a colleague speaks.
Thank you for your consistent sharing. It is a joy (on some level) to read your reflections.
At least your politicians are trying to hide and deny their lies.
Many of ours (in the US) are still praising the vaxx and telling us how we should be grateful for them.