Merkel's husband blames Germans' laziness for low vaccination rate

FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer arrive ahead of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican October 7, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

BERLIN (Reuters) - Joachim Sauer, Chancellor Angela Merkel's academic husband, has blamed his compatriots' "laziness and complacency" for Germany's comparatively low vaccination rate, saying public rejection of science has never been as visible as now.

Sauer, who until his retirement in 2017 was professor of quantum chemistry at Berlin's Humboldt University and seen as one of the field's top researchers, has been reticent to discuss politics throughout his wife's 16-year tenure.