Ex-Swiss government minister rejects Covid-19 ‘hysteria’

Former Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer continues to defend his record during the pandemic. © Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Former Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer has defended his record in government during the coronavirus pandemic and denies he was ever against vaccines. 

But in interviews with the Le Matin Dimanche and the SonntagsZeitung newspapers, Maurer repeated earlier controversial comments. “Of course there was hysteria around Covid,” he said in the Sunday interviews. 

This hysteria was even “on a global scale”, Maurer added. “We said that Covid was fatal, and based on this assumption, we stretched a health net like we had never seen before. Anyone who dared to ask a critical question was dismissed or treated as a conspirator.” 

Maurer also expressed surprise at the negative reaction to comments he made in the media two weeks ago. He dismissed the outcry as an “anti-Maurer reflex” from the media. 

But the former government minister did take the opportunity to qualify his earlier interview statement that anti-Covid vaccines are “a lot of hot air”.  

“Of course, people immediately said that I was anti-vax, which is not true,” he stated on Sunday. 

The usefulness of vaccines is undisputed, but Switzerland went too far by telling everyone to get vaccinated, Maurer said. “I am convinced that in the coming years we will increasingly deal with the damage caused by the vaccine,” he added. 

Maurer also answered critics who say he let down small businesses by not allowing more financial aid during the pandemic. “The state cannot be responsible for everything. Nor can it protect everyone from death,” he said. 

“The state must help protect society, but it can only distribute the money it first takes from people.” 

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