(Berlin) Angela Merkel, who will step down next week, pleaded again on Saturday for the COVID-19 vaccination in the latest episode of a series of more than 600 podcasts she had become accustomed to to address his fellow citizens.
“I once again urge you to take this treacherous virus seriously. The new Omicron variant seems to be even more contagious than the previous ones. Get vaccinated. It does not matter whether it is a primary vaccination or a booster. Any vaccination is useful, ”launched the outgoing chancellor in a video message.
She again called the fourth wave of COVID-19 hitting Germany “very serious” or even “dramatic” in some areas where intensive care units are overcrowded.
It is all the more bitter since it could be avoided. With effective and safe vaccines, we have the key in hand.
Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
The leader, who will hand over the baton next Wednesday to the future social democratic chancellor Olaf Scholz, also thanked “the vast majority” of those who “respect the rules” and “show every day this civic sense so wonderful in our country. – and without which no chancellor and no government can do anything ”.
One of the first projects of the coalition with the Greens and the Liberals led by Olaf Scholz will be to pass a bill on compulsory vaccination, from February or March 2022, to which a large part of the political class has ended up rallying.
Angela Merkel’s post was the latest in more than 600 podcast shows she recorded during her 16 years as head of Germany.
“At the time, it was quite exceptional for a head of government to also address the public directly on the Internet,” she notes in this episode.
His first recording, in 2006 before the start of the Soccer World Cup in Germany, had a theme much lighter than that of the pandemic: “my wish at the time, namely that the World Cup is also a great one. party outside the stadiums, was answered like a summer fairy tale, ”she recalls.
If she used this medium to tackle “subjects which [lui] take to heart ” [environnement, culture, sécurité, numérisation, égalité des droits, de lutte contre l’antisémitisme], it has multiplied, for almost two years, the messages on the pandemic.