RKI head Schaade admits: Risk assessment for lockdown not scientifically sound, but a “management decision”

The court hearing at Osnabrück Administrative Court on 3 September 2024 revolved around a nursing assistant’s complaint against a ban on entering and working imposed on her because she was unable to provide proof of vaccination or recovery. The central point of the hearing was the questioning of Mr Schaade, acting president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), about the internal RKI protocols that became public through freedom of information requests and leaks. These protocols played a key role in the trial.

Source: Tom Lausen, 04 Sep. 2024

The most important finding of the trial was that Mr Schaade revealed that the risk assessment and risk upgrade used to justify measures such as the lockdown were not based on science alone. Instead, this upgrade was seen as a“management issue” , meaning that it was also influenced by non-scientific considerations. This contradicts the previous assumption that all actions were strictly science-based .

This revelation led the court, in particular the presiding judge, to strongly question this approach of the RKI. At the end of the hearing , the court ruled that the entry ban was unlawful. In addition, the court found that the facility-based obligation to provide proof, i.e. the obligation to vaccinate medical staff, was unconstitutional from at least 7 November 2022. The judgement could have far-reaching consequences, as the Federal Constitutional Court must now decide on the matter.

Overall, the hearing is seen as a significant step that shows that some of the measures taken during the pandemic were not fully scientifically sound.