"Suspected nepotism" - Anger about Lauterbach's vaccination campaign is growing

In the posse surrounding the award of the contract for the campaign "I protect myself" by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), the opposition parties' displeasure with house boss Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is growing. After the ministry got caught up in ever new contradictions, the CDU and Left Party are now demanding clarification as to the basis on which the BMG awarded the contract to the Hamburg advertising agency "BrinkertLück".

"The Ministry of Health is becoming more and more involved in contradictions from week to week," said the CDU's health policy spokesman, Tino Sorge, WELT. More and more irregularities emerged. Lauterbach must explain the award of the campaign "publicly and in detail" and ensure unreserved clarification. "It damages the credibility of the federal government when tax money is spent on a shaky legal basis," said the CDU politician.

On October 14, Lauterbach presented the Corona campaign "I protect myself" in Berlin: 84 citizens advertised in TV spots and on posters for infection control measures and corona vaccines. Creators of the campaign: "BrinkertLück" - and not "Scholz

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach presents the new vaccination and corona campaign. The publicist Margarete Stokowski, who is committed to more help for long-Covid patients, will also be on the podium.

Source: WORLD

On November 8, the ministry responded to a written question from the CDU member of the Bundestag Matthias Hauer that "BrinkertLück" was "on the basis of the framework agreement (with "Scholz

Commissioning this company would only be legally correct if the framework agreement between the ministry and the then in-house agency “Scholz

Many open questions - and no answers from the ministry. Raphael Brinkert, founder and owner of the Hamburg agency, did not want to give WELT any information about how the commission came about and why there was no tender of his own. The ministry has already answered this in detail, he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening.

Most recently, Brinkert was in Qatar, where he attended the German national team's game against Japan; as a PR expert, he also advises the German Football Association (DFB). Sports marketing was originally Brinkert's core business, he founded the agency Jung von Matt/Sports in 2013. Before that he worked for “Scholz

The left is also sharply critical of this: Member of the Bundestag Sören Pellmann told WELT: “The complete lack of transparency in the award procedure formally raises the suspicion of nepotism.” Pellmann had already asked the federal government a written question in October. He specifically wanted to know which orders the BMG had placed with “BrinkertLück” by October 31. The Ministry then informed about an order volume of 594,000 euros for the advertiser. Did the money flow into the said vaccination campaign? Lauterbach's people were silent about this.

An absurdity for Pellmann: “Especially when there are inconsistencies in the answers from the federal government, as in the case of the involvement of the Scholz agency