Jens Spahn had been called as a witness but he must have felt like a defendant during his questioning by the parliamentary fact-finding commission.
Spahn, Germany's health minister from 2018 to 2021, played a crucial role at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Spahn was called by an "enquête-commission," a committee appointed by the Bundestag consisting of 14 members of parliament from all parliamentary groups as well as external experts, which is currently examining how the German state acted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spahn, who is now parliamentary group leader for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), procured huge quantities of protective face masks at apparently greatly inflated prices.
One employee of the Federal Audit Office, which monitors government expenditure, said Spahn's ministry bought some 5.8 billion masks at a unit price of around a euro ($1.20). Well over half of them were never distributed and later had to be destroyed. "We see this as massive over-procurement," said the expert from the Federal Audit Office, which monitors the use of taxpayers' money.
The health minister ultimately failed to accept or pay for a large number of the masks he ordered. Germany's government could face payments of some €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion) to health product manufacturers if courts rule against it in the dozens of lawsuits that have been filed over the issue.
In parliament, Spahn defended his decisions. The primary goal, he said, was to contain the spread of the virus to avoid overburdening the healthcare system. With regard to the mask purchases, he said, "the whole world wanted the same thing at the same time. It was a matter of life and death."
In the past, he has admitted that in hindsight he should have done things differently.
In early December, prominent virologist Christian Drosten, one of the government's leading advisors during the pandemic, also faced questions from the commission. "The danger of the pandemic stemmed from the dynamic transmissibility of the virus," said the virologist from Berlin's renowned Charite hospital. He stressed that the efficiency of pandemic control in Germany was internationally recognized in the early days.
The scientist warned it was impossible to act following a prepared plan for action in an unpredictable crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Pandemic control will always follow the principle: We're building the ship we have already had to set sail in," he said. Action is only possible based on new data daily and new research results, said Drosten. "This requires well-funded infection research and strong public health institutions."
Drosten also commented on the highly controversial school closures. During the first wave of the pandemic, this was a precautionary measure to protect children. However, as time went on, many federal states reassessed these measures to make political decisions based on which areas of society would be impacted.
This highlights difficulties in the coordination between the federal and state levels of government. During the pandemic, the leaders of Germany's 16 states convened with the federal government to agree on measures such as imposing complete lockdowns. The Bundestag, however, was often relegated to a more limited role, as the states had more say.
The decisions to close schools or companies were made by politicians, not by scientists, Drosten emphasized. However he refused to blame decision makers. "I don't want to say that politicians only had the interests of employers in mind back then," he said.
The manufacturing industry where working from home is not possible, could not afford to shut down long term. Germany is lagging behind other countries in digitalization and this, according to Drosten, also played a role in preventing workers and students from working from home.
While Germany has a large manufacturing industry, Drosten pointed out, the Swedish capital Stockholm has a very large service sector so it was possible for 40% of its population to simply work from home. "Feasibility is not the same in all countries," said the virologist.
Besides Drosten, other doctors on the commission offered advice on how to deal with future pandemics. Johannes Niessen, who was head of Germany's largest public health department in the western city of Cologne until 2024, addressed the higher infection rates in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods.
"On the one hand, there are precarious working conditions that are difficult to manage in terms of hygiene," Niessen said. But living conditions also played a major role: "Living with five people in a 50 square meter apartment is quite different from living with two people over 200 square meters. If one of them is infected, they have more space to stay out of the other person's way."
Niessen also pointed out the connection between precarious social conditions and health risks such as cardiovascular disease and often cancer. "These are pre-existing conditions that will affect some people more than others."
The Cologne health authorities worked with the fire department to set up COVID-19 testing sites "in places where no private providers offered testing." In the future, Niessen concluded, the focus must be on all vulnerable groups from the outset. In his view, this includes not only older adults but also younger people with pre-existing health conditions, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups.
The Bundestag's commission of inquiry has now completed three months of public hearings. When it was set up, parliamentary president Julia Klöckner (CDU) had formulated her expectations as follows: "The pandemic has left wounds — visible and invisible — and it has also alienated people from politics." This makes it all the more important for the commission to thoroughly, constructively and self-critically examine the political decisions made at the time and their social impact.
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"It's about listening, understanding, learning and documenting and utilizing the knowledge to combat any future pandemics," Klöckner explained.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a unprecedented turning point for Germany, for the health care system, the education sector and the economy but above all for the daily lives of citizens, Klöckner said. "Many people lost relatives and friends or are still struggling with the health and social consequences. We have paid too little attention to the psychological effects on children and young people in particular."
All of this is to be critically analyzed by the commission in public hearings during 2026 after which it should present well-founded recommendations for future. A final report is due in June 2027.
This article has been translated from German.
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