What's gone wrong with Germany's COVID management?

During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Britain's euroskeptic Daily Telegraph ran a front-page headline: "Coronavirus testing: How Germany got it right, while the UK got it wrong."

Even faraway and basically COVID-free New Zealand was full of praise. The New Zealand Herald counted Germany and Angela Merkel among the success stories of the pandemic, saying the chancellor was setting a global example with her strategy. 

If they'd been taking bets last summer on who might best weather the second and third waves of the pandemic, many would have put the farm on Germany. 

Obviously… "Made in Germany," the masters of organization, with their researchers already working on an all-new type of vaccine. Who else? 

Be grateful you never placed that bet. For Germany has morphed from model student to pandemic problem child in short order, fighting failure in a number of subjects. 

Masks? Too few. Vaccinations? Too sluggish. Tests? Too late. An imaginary school report card might read: credible effort, but rather too much bound by the regulations and not sufficiently creative. 

It's not just Germans asking what's happened. Among some abroad, there's an unmistakable note of schadenfreude about this teacher's pet who would never normally forget his homework.

'Vaccine snail' line resonates in the UK

A critical commentary in Germany's Bild daily prompted so much interest with the Daily Mail in the UK that they borrowed the phrase "vaccine snails" for their own front page. 

With the British government saying a third of the country has received its first doses, the Daily Mail noted how Germany had vaccinated just 2% of the population in a month, "a figure that Israel manages to achieve every single day." 

"Germany loses COVID crown as vaccine campaign falters," the Financial Times wrote in early March. "Germany is famed for Vorsprung durch Technik, engineering knowhow and general competence. No wonder then that its COVID-19 vaccination drive is fast becoming a national embarrassment." 

The Guardian columnist Ed Cumming also evoked Audi's advertising slogan, asking: "Wasn’t all that technik meant to lead to a bit of vorsprung?"

Meanwhile, a bilingual Bild headline — "Liebe Briten, WE BENEIDEN YOU!" ("Dear Britons, we envy you!" — prompted The Sun to respond all in German with "Wir beneiden dich nicht [we don't envy you]."

German image of competence shattered

The center-left daily El Pais was more bemused than triumphant. 

"The repeated mistakes of the German government have eradicated any preconceptions of German competence or superiority," it wrote. 

Spain has also been hit hard by the pandemic. With around 71,000 deaths so far it's roughly on par with Germany, but that's in a country with 36 million fewer people. Still, the sense that's increasingly prevalent in Germany — that the government in Berlin enjoyed a big boost in trust and popularity for its circumspect policy at the start of the pandemic but has since lost its way — seems to have reached the Iberian Peninsula. 

"Germany is not so special after all. Only the difference between its perception and reality is greater," El Pais wrote.

Reporting in France and other European countries has not tended to single out Germany, focusing instead on the EU's perceived failings, especially on the acquisition of vaccines. After all, in no EU member state is the vaccine program running sufficiently well that Germany's slow start warrants singling it out. 

US: Sympathy usurps surprise

The United States is now vaccinating in sports stadiums, at drive-ins, in supermarkets and even in churches; 3 million are being serviced daily and in the state of New Jersey simply being a smoker suffices to qualify you for a shot. There, a sentiment toward Germany is emerging that almost stings more than schadenfreude: pity. 

It was Donald Trump, whom many in the US blame for more than half a million COVID-19 deaths, and who Germans often feared more than the virus itself, who dived in rather than dithering when it came to vaccines. The former president ordered millions of doses of the Moderna and BioNTech-Pfizer serums long before their efficacy had been proven. 

The times of American media reporting glowingly about the German COVID response are long gone. In the summer of 2020, with Germany largely undisturbed but the US passing one grim milestone after the next, those comparisons abounded. 

But the summer of 2021 seems far more likely to be trouble-free in the US rather than Germany. President Joe Biden recently announced his goal of having offered a shot to every US citizen by the end of May.

Russia reports on failings of the West

Any Russian is now eligible for a free dose of the Sputnik V vaccine, regardless of age or profession. Their mass vaccine rollout began in December when the government also proclaimed victory over the pandemic. 

The arguments over the EU's vaccination strategy are regularly reported on as an example of the failings of the West in the fight against COVID. Meanwhile, Russia's stocks of a vaccine whose very name is plastered in patriotism — after the world's first artificial satellite, an allusion to Russia's successes in space — have been plentiful for some time.

And what of Germany? Many Russians have relatively recently learned the name of the increasingly embattled German Health Minister Jens Spahn. Two weeks ago, when he was quizzed in the Bundestag parliament, this wasn't just broadcast on all channels in Germany: the exchange also got prominent play on the evening news in Russia.

Israelis in Germany to head home for vaccine?

Where the coronavirus is concerned, Israel has always been something of a hare to Germany's tortoise. Face masks were made mandatory everywhere quite early, while in Germany for a long time they were only required in certain places. Israel started its second lockdown in September, earlier than Germany. And after a successful BioNTech-Pfizer vaccination campaign, half of the population has already received at least one dose. Germany might reach that stage by July or August. 

Israel has also had its "green passport"for people who've been vaccinated or have overcome COVID-19 since February. Holders can gain access to gyms, sports facilities and cultural events. 

With Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport reopened, many Israelis in Germany are considering a trip for the Passover festival at the end of May, also as an opportunity to get vaccinated. Most might be waiting until late summer here. 

China sees 'warning' in Germany

Chinese media tend to use the country's success containing COVID not just as a measure of success compared to Western countries, but as a sort of permanent warning not to let off at home. German is fast becoming an example of how not to do things, with one of the more popular headlines for such items including the word "Warning." 

Germans are also hoping that the pace might soon pick up on the vaccine front. Approving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, securing more doses from various producers and enabling vaccinations at general practitioners' clinics could all help boost the tempo. But nobody should now expect Germany to regain the position many bestowed on it earlier in the pandemic, as an example for others to follow. 

This article has been translated from German.

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