Germany’s SPD claims victory AU expert regrets UK’s vaccine policy

NAIROBI.– The African Union’s (AU) top health official called Britain’s lack of recognition for coronavirus vaccines administered in Africa regrettable, saying it sends a confusing public health message.

England announced last week that it would expand the list of countries from which it recognises vaccines, adding 17 others beyond the initial list of the United States and Europe. None of those countries are in Africa. The British government sets coronavirus policy for England, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are in charge of their own rules.

“We regret that the UK would take this position. We are calling on them to review this because it doesn’t speak to the spirit of true solidarity and cooperation,” said Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong.

“If ... you send us vaccines and we use those vaccines and you say you don’t recognise people that have been immunised with those vaccines... it sends a very challenging message for us,” he said. – Reuters

BERLIN. – Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have claimed victory in the federal election, telling the party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel it should no longer be in power.

The result marked a historic low for the CDU, in one of the most unpredictable elections in Europe’s biggest economy in recent decades.

SPD leader Olaf Scholz said he had a clear mandate to form a government, while his conservative rival Armin Laschet remains determined to fight on. The two parties have governed together for years.

But Scholz says it is time for a new coalition with the Greens and liberals. Preliminary results gave his party a narrow election win over the conservatives who suffered their worst-ever performance.

Despite this, Laschet said his party had given him its backing to enter talks with coalition partners, pushing Germany towards a potentially protracted power struggle.

The Greens and pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) attracted the most support from the under-30s, in an election dominated by climate change and by differing proposals on how to tackle it. The Greens made history with almost 15 percent of the vote, even though it was well short of their ambitions.

It was the tightest race in years, bringing an end to the post-war domination of the two big parties – Scholz’s SPD and his rival’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Exit polls predicted a dead heat, but this election was unpredictable from the start, and the result was never going to be the end of the story. For one thing, the outgoing chancellor is going nowhere until the coalition is formed - and that may have to wait until Christmas.

The main parties want a new government in place by the time Germany takes over the leadership of the G7 group of nations in January. The next chancellor’s task is to lead Europe’s foremost economy over the next four years, with climate change at the top of voters’ agenda

Scholz’s SPD supporters greeted him in raptures, but it was only later when his party edged into the lead that he told a televised audience the voters had given him the job of forming a “good, pragmatic government for Germany”.

Speaking yesterday, he said there were three parties that were on the up – his party, the Greens and the liberals – and it was time for the conservatives to back down. “I think that the people in Germany want the Christian Democratic Union in opposition. This is their result now, what they decided during the election,” he said in English. – BBCWorld