The pandemic impressed a new-found, nationwide respect for German scientists, says the BBC’s Jenny Hill. Virologist Christian Drosten is now a family identify, as is Lothar Wieler, who runs the Robert Koch Institute that advises the German authorities. So are the married BioNTech founders Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, who developed the primary accepted vaccine. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who studied quantum chemistry herself, is closely influenced by the opinion of Germany’s scientific group which, in the primary, urges restrictions and warning. However the response to the pandemic has more and more been characterised by squabbles amongst regional leaders, a few of whom demand fewer restrictions on every day life.