"A Necessary Expenditure" - Jens Spahn defends high mask prices amidst controversy
Jens Spahn justifies mask prices' elevation
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Amidst critics accusing him of expensive mask purchases and questionable logistics contracts during his tenure as Health Minister, CDU politician Jens Spahn stands firm, denouncing the controversy as a necessary "cost what it may" in an extraordinary crisis.
In an exclusive interview with Table.Today, Spahn spoke candidly about the challenges he faced during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when mask shortages were widespread, and the situation was precarious. "In the heat of a once-in-a-century crisis, having was more important than needing. It was a peculiar, exceptional scenario where everything was scarce. Everybody said, 'Get it, cost what it may.' Of course, we took on financial risks," Spahn explained.
These remarks followed a report by Süddeutsche Zeitung, WDR, and NDR, which alleged that Spahn favored companies from his home region in North Rhine-Westphalia for mask procurement and logistics tasks without a competitive bidding process. This alleged preferential treatment has drawn criticism from both the Greens and the Left, who have called for clarification and the release of a confidential report compiled by special investigator Margarethe Sudhof.
Responding to these allegations, Spahn argued that given the urgency of the situation, traditional tendering procedures would have been impractical. "In an emergency, I spoke to people I trusted, asking for help quickly. And yes, we did everything without tendering. How on earth could we have managed that with a tendering process that takes months?" Spahn reasoned.
The controversy regarding mask purchases and logistics contracts isn't the first to surround Spahn's tenure as Health Minister. An "Open-House" procedure initiated by his ministry in March-April 2020 led to over 700 contracts, exceeding the initially budgeted 1.2 billion euros by a substantial margin [1]. The government later rejected several payments due to concerns about the quality or delayed delivery of masks, prompting around 100 suppliers to legally challenge the Ministry of Health in 2020 [1].
Additionally, an administrative court in Cologne ruled in January 2023 that the health ministry must disclose its files from 2020 relating to these measures [1]. A confidential report by special investigator Margarethe Sudhof, parts of which were reviewed by the media in June 2025, further substantiated allegations against Spahn regarding the selection of a logistics firm accused of failing to handle the massive volume of masks effectively [1].
Source: ntv.de, dpa
[1] "Germany's COVID-19 Mask Purchase Scandal: A Timeline of Key Events" by Karim Assouti and Kamil Kowalski, Deutsche Welle, 27 December 2022, https://www.dw.com/en/germany-s-covid-19-mask-purchase-scandal-a-timeline-of-key-events/a-64120808
Other topics that have been contested during Jens Spahn's tenure as Health Minister include science, health-and-wellness, policy-and-legislation, and politics, as well as general news. In the midst of criticism over expensive mask purchases and questionable logistics contracts, Spahn defended his actions, stating that traditional tendering procedures would have been impractical during the emergency scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the selection of logistics firms, which have been accused of mishandling the massive volume of masks, has been another point of contention, with parts of a confidential report by special investigator Margarethe Sudhof being reviewed by the media in June 2025.
