In train stations, airports or job centers: The federal government could soon distribute corona masks that are no longer needed. The storage costs are currently 1.2 million euros per month.
The federal government plans to give away millions of surplus corona masks at train stations, airports and job centers. For this purpose, “dispensing points” should be set up where customers and employees could serve themselves free of charge, reports the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ). This is based on a new usage concept from the Federal Ministry of Health by Karl Lauterbach (SPD).
According to the information, the federal government still has around 1.3 billion respiratory masks from the pandemic period in storage. Of these, 470 million units would be eligible for further use. On the other hand, 840 million cannot be used because the expiry date has expired or the material is the subject of legal proceedings.
The tax potential is great with 1.9 billion rail passengers per year, the “FAZ” quotes from the four-page paper that was sent to the Bundestag’s budget committee on Thursday. Reference is also made to 37 German airports, 600 branches of the Federal Employment Agency and 300 job centers where the masks could be distributed. The Federal Police and the Bundeswehr would also be suitable as mask buyers, as they employ 320,000 people.
Storage for millions of euros
The newspaper quoted the template as saying that mask storage at nine private logistics companies currently costs 1.2 million euros per month. In the second quarter of 2025, the federal government wants to give up eight of these camps and instead use three camps run by the federal agency for technical relief. This brought the costs down to 215,000 euros per month.
The procurement of masks under the former Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) was “a prime example of expensive bad planning,” said the Green budget politician Paula Piechotta to the “FAZ”. “To date, over a billion masks remain unused in warehouses, while the monthly storage costs continue to add up.”
The overprocurement shows “how a lack of needs analysis and sometimes arbitrary decisions by the minister during the crisis have caused long-term problems,” criticized Piechotta. “We now urgently need solutions to use these masks sensibly and contain the exploding costs – as well as clear consequences to prevent such wrong decisions in the future.”
FDP criticizes Lauterbach’s distribution plan
The chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the budget committee, Karsten Klein, criticized the plan for distributing the masks. “Despite requests from the Bundestag, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has so far criminally failed to present a coherent concept for the distribution of protective masks,” said Klein WELT. “According to the report, the planned delivery points have not yet been asked whether they are even interested in distributing masks.”
The budget politician goes on to say: “Without a sensible concept, it cannot surprise anyone if the majority of the protective masks procured will end up being destroyed.” This report also makes clear the need for a comprehensive analysis of procurement, which has not yet been carried out. “Unfortunately, the SPD has to date prevented the establishment of an investigative committee to seriously examine the corona pandemic and the procurement of protective masks.”
AFP/coh/kk
