The Bayern professional announced his decision on ZDF. Joshua Kimmich speaks with a firm voice, but through his eyes he allows a glimpse into his soul. The virus, but much more the criticism of his vaccination skepticism, have left a clear mark on the Munich resident. Now he is finally ready for the little spade with the big impact – and takes a detailed stand.
“Of course it would have been better to get vaccinated earlier – for several reasons,” admits the national player, who has just recovered from COVID-19, in a TV interview. Once, because then he might have been spared an infection. Then because of his “bad conscience” towards the family and the Bayern colleagues. But above all because of the whole fuss about his person. “Some limits were exceeded,” he complains.
“From all directions”
Objective criticism of his skepticism he had to and could “endure”. But not that “you point your finger and judge from almost all directions,” says Kimmich. That parents, uncles and aunts would ring the bell in his home village to question them. Or that the press was “at my grandfather’s funeral”.
Meanwhile, he received praise from Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. “The decision to vaccinate Joshua Kimmich deserves respect,” wrote the SPD politician on Twitter. “He was never a maverick and just hesitated too long.”
“A very, very difficult time lies behind him,” says Kimmich about the seven weeks since his first and so far last appearance on the subject, during which he tried to explain his wait-and-see attitude. It was difficult for him to “deal with my fears and concerns”. Perhaps, the 26-year-old thinks, “I first had to go through what I’ve been through now”. The anger and anger that met the country’s most prominent skeptic. The week-long quarantine, because of which an already agreed vaccination appointment had to be postponed again. And finally the corona disease.
Joshua Kimmich (left) and his teammate Leon Goretzka at the international match against Romania in October
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The actual illness was “relatively mild”, reports the Bayern professional. He has to take a break until January because of fluid in his lungs. Otherwise there would be “the risk that it gets on the heart and one suffers longer consequences”. He had hesitated because of “possible long-term consequences” with the vaccination.
Teammate “abandoned”
The player says that he is wrong to believe that he can protect himself if he only complies with all the measures. Because he was often tested as a professional, he saw no danger to others. “In the end, I got the feeling that you cannot influence whether you come into contact with the virus through your own behavior.” Now he wants to “get vaccinated when it is recommended and when the time is right”.
He “let his teammates down because of his reluctance”, admits Kimmichr: “I was the one who sat at home, who missed these highlight games, who couldn’t help the team.” He will have missed eight games by the turn of the year. That, he says ruefully, “would not have happened with a vaccination”. He can “absolutely understand and understand” that the bosses cut his salary during the quarantine. Likewise “any objective criticism”. But he had the feeling that some “wanted to make a name for themselves” at his own expense and asked himself: “How should we deal with each other?”
ml/jst (SID, dpa, ZDF)
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