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Alena Buyx, Chair of the German Ethics Council, presented the statement
At some movie scenes you almost winced: People sit relaxed in full restaurants, parties are wildly in clubs, strangers talk to each other in one train - of course without mouth and nose protection.
From a hug to a friend to a big family celebration: Corona is currently making many things impossible.
The desire is growing that this will change quickly.
Also because the crisis still has serious consequences, socially and economically.
The question arises: Can't at least all vaccinated people do what was normal before Corona?
The Ethics Council has dealt with the question of whether special rules should apply to vaccinated people and published an ad hoc recommendation.
In the statement, the Ethics Council speaks out against corresponding special rules.
"At the present time, the Ethics Council is of the opinion that the individual withdrawal of state restrictions on freedom is prohibited because the possibility of the virus being spread by vaccinated people cannot be ruled out with sufficient certainty," a statement said.
The current restrictions are only justified as long as the care of seriously ill Covid-19 patients threatens to acutely overload the health system.
If this risk can be reduced, the measures to combat pandemics would have to be relaxed - but then also for everyone.
Previous relaxations for vaccinated people are only conceivable if it is certain that vaccinated people will no longer pass on the virus.
If new data is available, it will have to be weighed again, the chairman of the ethics council said at a press conference.
According to the ethicists, comparatively less restrictive guidelines such as distance rules and mask requirements are still reasonable in any case, even for vaccinated people.
Exception: care facilities and private companies
According to the opinion of the Ethics Council, there should be an exception.
The overall critical assessment of possible special rules does not apply to residents of care, senior, disabled and hospice facilities, according to a statement.
There, exit bans and restrictions on visits should be lifted if people are protected by vaccinations.
"In view of the considerable stress that this group of people has already experienced in the course of the pandemic, this can be ethically justified," writes the Ethics Council.
Since the risk of infection was particularly high there, they were exposed to stresses during the pandemic that went well beyond what other citizens had to endure.
The consequences included depression and the loss of the will to live.
The chairman of the ethics council, Alena Buyx, spoke of lifting the measures with a sense of proportion as soon as possible.
In contrast to state rules, according to the ethicists, it is also conceivable that private providers, for example airlines, make access to their goods and services dependent on a vaccination.
According to the Ethics Council, this is due to the freedom of contract.
According to this, private individuals and private companies can basically decide with whom they want to conclude a contract.
"If, for example, restaurants reopen or concerts take place again, organizers can only offer them to vaccinated people in order to advertise themselves and protect their employees," said Volker Lipp, Deputy Chairman of the German Ethics Council, at a press conference.
However, this always only applies in compliance with government infection measures.
As long as restaurants are closed by government measures, the ethics council believes that operators cannot decide on this basis to open them to vaccinated people.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also recently pointed out that it was still open whether someone who had been vaccinated could infect others.
As long as this is not clarified, there could be no special measures or rights for vaccinated people.
With a view to people who do not want to be immunized later if there is a sufficient vaccination offer, Merkel added: "Then you might have to make such differences and say: Okay, if you don't want that, you may not be able to do certain things."
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