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Corona rapid test: What role can companies play in the test strategy?
Photo: Bodo Schackow / picture alliance / dpa
A round of talks planned for this Friday by the federal government with business and trade union representatives on the subject of corona rapid tests in companies has failed.
"There are still questions to be clarified," said government spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin.
Therefore, the video conference planned for the afternoon is omitted.
At the federal-state consultations on Wednesday, it was decided that the companies would offer their employees in attendance at least one free quick test per week.
To this end, the federal government will "finally discuss this week with the business community," it said in the decision paper.
This schedule cannot be kept now.
Seibert did not give a new date for the interview.
It is important that the people in the companies get a test offer, emphasized the government spokesman.
Some companies have been offering their employees rapid tests "for some time".
"That shows: It is absolutely possible."
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) declared that the companies were in the pandemic "to their overall social responsibility".
In the case of the rapid tests for employees, however, "there are still crucial questions open to the federal government."
It is "particularly about legal and logistical issues, for example to what extent companies should and are allowed to report the test results to the health department."
These questions should now be clarified "quickly and unbureaucratically".
Companies could also be involved in vaccinations
The association also referred to the possibility that company doctors could "prospectively" join the vaccination campaign "as soon as enough vaccine is available."
Seibert said that company doctors could later, if enough vaccine was available, play "a very important role" in the vaccination campaign.
They enjoy the trust of the workforce and also have experience with vaccinations, for example against the flu.
According to Seibert, vaccination should not play a role in the canceled conversation on Friday.
Several large companies had previously proposed vaccinating their employees, families and sometimes even third parties.
"We want to pragmatically contribute to achieving herd immunity in Germany as quickly as possible," said the head of Deutsche Bank, Christian Sewing, of "Welt".
"We are therefore fundamentally ready to give people a vaccination even if they don't work for us."
Many companies want to participate in vaccination programs
The companies Allianz, Adidas, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens and Axel Springer also want to contribute to the faster processing of the national vaccination program, according to the report.
Allianz is planning to set up up to 25 vaccination lines on its premises, CEO Oliver Bäte told the newspaper.
Preparations were already being made.
Post boss Frank Appel told Die Welt: "We said at the beginning of the year that we would buy vaccines for our employees if there was sufficient availability and vaccinate them, although our activities can only complement the efforts of the government."
The head of Axel Springer, Mathias Döpfner, explained that the group had "brought this idea to the political arena weeks ago."
In accordance with the intended vaccination sequence, company doctors could not only vaccinate employees, but later possibly also family members in the same household.
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