Leopoldina’s Covid paper AUF1 alleges hidden harms

Oct 1

In its opening preview and main brief, AUF1 criticizes Lauterbach's reported 2021 claim about vaccine side effects and alleges that no official statistics reveal the full extent of harms. It quotes Leopoldina's Long Covid umbrella as including conditions caused by Covid-19 vaccination and argues that this hides vaccine injuries in statistics. As an example, it says an unnamed woman raised treatment-cost problems on MDR in 2023 and indirectly attributes to then-STIKO chair Thomas Mertens the suggestion that reporting Long Covid instead would secure coverage. The bulletin does not replay that exchange or independently establish the alleged concealment.

AUF1 quotes Leopoldina's use of Long Covid as an umbrella that also includes conditions caused by Covid-19 vaccination. The broadcaster argues that this conceals vaccine injuries in statistics and invokes an indirectly reported 2023 treatment-cost exchange involving Thomas Mertens as an analogy. The classification and AUF1's allegation are distinct: the report does not independently establish concealment or reproduce the original 2023 exchange.