Germany is poised to clamp down on people who aren’t vaccinated against Covid-19 and drastically curtail social contacts to ease pressure on increasingly stretched hospitals.
In one of her final acts as chancellor, Angela Merkel will hold talks with Germany’s 16 regional premiers later on Thursday at which they’re expected to agree on new curbs including allowing only people who are vaccinated or recovered into restaurants, theaters and non-essential stores.
According to a draft agreement prepared by Merkel’s office, there will also be tighter contact restrictions for non-vaccinated people, nightclubs will be closed in places with high infection rates and there will be strict limits on the number of spectators at large public events.
“The important thing is that this is virtually a lockdown for the unvaccinated,” outgoing Health Minister Jens Spahn said Thursday in an interview with ZDF television.
COVID: Incoming chancellor Scholz wants vaccine mandate in Germany
Germany could make coronavirus vaccines mandatory as early as February or March 2022, according to chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz. But he insisted that the issue would be decided in parliament.
As Germany faces record-breaking infection numbers and fears of the omicron variant abound, Angela Merkel's designated successor Olaf Scholz is calling for a general vaccine mandate.
Talking to Germany's Bild television on Tuesday, the chancellor-in-waiting said he would like to see mandatory vaccinations "not too far away in the future, so I suggest beginning of February or March."
At the same time, he said that the decision would be made in the parliament, and that it would be a "matter of conscience" for individual lawmakers.
Germany's Federal Medical Association also called for a vaccine mandate to put a stop to the "endless loop of lockdowns."
It urged the German government to make arrangements that would apply to "all adult citizens with no medical contra-indications against a vaccine."
The question of mandatory vaccination is considered controversial in Germany, partly due to forced medical treatments during the Nazi-era.
Separately, spokesman for the outgoing German government Steffen Seibert said a decision on the vaccine mandate would be made "soon."
The latest comments come after Scholz and outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel attended a video-conference with the premiers of Germany's 16 federal states.
The country's top officials agreed to boost the vaccination campaign by administering 30 million more vaccines before Christmas, according to Seibert.
In order to achieve this, they will include new categories of people who are allowed to administer jabs. This will most likely include pharmacists. However, final conclusions from the meeting won't be published before Thursday, according to the statement.
Some 68.5% of Germany's population of roughly 83 million have been fully vaccinated.
According to Reuters news agency, Scholz also supported the idea of introducing so-called 2G rules for customers in retail stores, meaning they must be either vaccinated ("geimpft") or have recovered ("genesen") from COVID-19. The rules would not apply in supermarkets or drugstores.
Reuters said that Scholz had pledged to make changes to the Infection Protection Act to provide "states with high infection rates with a suitable set of instruments."
Scholz also introduced Major General Carsten Breuer as the head of a planned COVID crisis team to be set up when the new coalition government commences work. The team is to primarily speed up Germany's vaccination program, including the administering of booster injections.
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