Drosten's statement is met with mocking laughter in the investigative committee

Virologist Christian Drosten believes it is necessary to better define the role of science in the event of another pandemic. It must be protected from exaggerated expectations and attributions, he said in the Corona Investigative Committee of the Saxon State Parliament.

The investigation into the pandemic should also involve science, but at the same time, it is important to reflect on its limitations. Virologists are not responsible for evaluating aspects from other fields such as economics, psychology, or pedagogy, nor do they make political decisions.

His regular appearances on the NDR podcast are also a topic of discussion that day. Drosten justified them with a sense of responsibility to society. "t-online" was on hand when Drosten said: "I have conducted tax-funded research for 20 years – at some point, you have to give something back to the taxpayers." These statements prompted derisive laughter from the more than 50 viewers.

"Only politicians make the necessary decisions about the tension between health protection and the restriction of individual rights," said the 52-year-old professor. The roles of scientists and politicians must be clearly separated.

With all future-oriented conclusions, it should not be forgotten that the next virus could have completely different characteristics, Drosten said. Schematic pandemic planning based strictly on the COVID experience would inevitably lead to errors. "Every pandemic requires an immediate scientific response." Therefore, well-funded infection research and strong public health institutions are needed.

He acknowledged that a public image of him had been created that did not reflect reality. Drosten admitted to misjudgments, for example, regarding the effects of the pandemic in Africa.

He criticized a statement by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. This statement, issued in November 2021, advocated mandatory vaccination for medical personnel – at a time when the Omicron variant was already on the rise worldwide. Especially with this variant, vaccination provided significantly less protection against infection. Drosten said: "This was the biggest misjudgment in which I was involved."

The virologist defended measures such as contact restrictions and vaccination. He argued that the disease was transmitted without or with only mild symptoms. Vaccination had significantly reduced the disease burden and mortality. "Countries where vaccination was better accepted benefited more significantly than Germany."

A comparison with Great Britain shows how effective the protective measures were in the first wave. If the same measures had been introduced three weeks later, the number of deaths in the first wave would have been almost 70,000, rather than 9,345.

Drosten is the director of the Institute of Virology at the Charité in Berlin and has been an expert during the pandemic, whose advice has also been relied upon by politicians. He was summoned as an expert witness for the Saxon investigative committee. His questioning was interrupted after two hours due to time constraints. Drosten is expected to be summoned again.

The investigative committee was established at the instigation of the AfD parliamentary group. It is intended to critically examine the work of the Saxon government in connection with the coronavirus . The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of around 17,750 people in Saxony.