The 30-year-old from Erfurt said this in an interview with "Der Spiegel" and at the same time criticised the role of national football player Joshua Kimmich in the vaccination debate.
"First of all, I was shocked because I had firmly assumed that he had already been vaccinated. Because 99 per cent of the athletes I know are now vaccinated. I found Kimmich's confession difficult because, as a footballer, he is a role model," said the double Olympic champion and eleven-time world champion, whose sporting career came to a tragic end in the summer of 2018 with a serious fall.
"Old life" only through vaccination
Kimmich had justified his stance with concerns "regarding the lack of long-term studies". "Now there may be young people who uncritically accept his statements and say: Joshua doesn't do it, so I won't either," Vogel fears. She is "convinced that vaccination is the only way to get our old lives back", she added.
In the whole debate, she feels that the following is missing out: "We do so much crap to our bodies: smoking, drinking, stuffing ourselves with so much rubbish, meat for a euro a kilo, I'm deliberately exaggerating now. But as soon as it comes to vaccination, many people suddenly start worrying about their health. It's out of all proportion."
However, she explained that Kimmich had shown courage. "It's often criticised that we only have such licked athletes who never show an edge, who don't have opinions. He's not one of them." He should just have chosen a different topic, "because people's lives and livelihoods depend on it," said Vogel, who started studying at the coaching academy in Cologne at the beginning of the week.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:211029-99-786753/2
