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FC mascot Hennes: Tired of unvaccinated people
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Future Image / imago images
The emotionally charged discussion about the access rights of unvaccinated people has now also reached professional football.
From the end of August, 1. FC Köln will only allow spectators who have been vaccinated or recovered against the corona virus into the stadium, following a suggestion by Health Minister Jens Spahn.
In an interview, Spahn had told the “Münchner Merkur” that he could imagine that “areas that do not belong to the basic care” could only be admitted to vaccinated or convalescent people.
As an example, he explained: "Or restricted access - that, for example, 30,000 people who have been vaccinated and 2,000 people who have been tested are allowed to attend a football game in the Bayern stadium."
FC Köln now apparently intends to follow this ministerial proposal fairly closely. A club spokeswoman confirmed to WDR on Friday that a negative corona test from the second home game on August 28 against VfL Bochum would no longer be enough to get into the stadium. Exceptions should continue to apply to children and adolescents up to the age of 16 as well as to people excluded from the vaccination for medical reasons - and probably for 1000 fans per game who are allowed to enter the stadium unvaccinated but with a current corona test. For the first home game against Hertha BSC on August 15, the club expects 16,500 spectators, of which 1000 should also get access with a negative corona test.
"Vaccination is the key to a changed normality - without it it will be difficult in the long run," quoted the "Bild" newspaper on Friday, quoting FC managing director Alexander Wehrle.
The club had recently offered the opportunity to vaccinate during training.
On Wednesday, 87 people took up the offer.
Not everyone is a fan of this kind of commitment to the vaccination needle.
»Access to the stadiums should still be possible for those who have been tested.
We don't believe in gradually turning 3G into 2G, "said Jan Mayer, managing director of TSG Hoffenheim, the" Stuttgarter Zeitung "and the" Stuttgarter Nachrichten ":" That would be a compulsory vaccination through the back door.
We shouldn't allow ourselves to be instrumentalized here for political purposes. «The 3G rule stands for those who have been vaccinated, those who have recovered and those who have been tested - and applies to a number of events.
Not everyone likes the carrot and the stick
The Kraichgauer are not alone in this: There are considerable reservations about privileging vaccinated and convalescent people over unvaccinated people.
Many vaccination advocates would like to do this to increase motivation to vaccinate.
But it's not just the government's promises that stand against it.
Spahn himself knows that the legislature cannot simply exclude parts of the population from public life.
"For essential things such as public transport or visiting the town hall or hospital, it must be possible to have access with just a mask or a test," he told the "Münchner Merkur" in the middle of the week.
On the same day, however, Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht, SPD, made an ostensibly cryptic statement in the Funke Group's newspapers, suggesting how this could be avoided: “Anyone who wants to offer their guests special protection can therefore also make offers that suit themselves only to vaccinated people. "
In plain language: Even if the state cannot decree something like this, companies in the private sector and organizations not supported by the state are free to make use of their domestic rights.
This is exactly what seems to be a trend in tourism and gastronomy, for example. The first hotels announced at the end of July that they would only be bookable for vaccinated and convalescent people from the autumn season. In Tyrol it is now becoming apparent that this could even be regulated across the board, at least regionally: The Austrian Tyrolean Tourism Association is at least thinking of only allowing guests to come to the hotel for the winter season - a second Ischgl should be avoided in this way: At the beginning of the Covid- During the crisis, apre ski parties in ski areas had turned into superspreading events that drove up the number of infected people across Europe.
It is a matter of securing business for the winter season, association official Mario Gerber told the Viennese “Kurier”: “The tide has turned.
The guests see that it is not the same with us as in Greece or Spain.
We now benefit from the strict rules. "
In Germany, the discussion about whether unvaccinated people can be assigned access restrictions is only relevant up to an incidence of currently 35: In addition, the corona protection ordinances apply, which would forbid football clubs, for example, from letting unvaccinated people into the stadium.
The federal and state governments will discuss how to proceed in the corona pandemic next Tuesday.
There is no unity either in the coalition or within the parties.
The SPD, like the left, is formally against preferring those who have been vaccinated and recovered to those who have not been vaccinated. At the same time, the party does not seem averse to complicating the life of the unvaccinated at least a little: Health expert Karl Lauterbach is currently calling for "high incidences" to only be granted to unvaccinated people with a valid PCR test access to events and certain places of public life . However, it is chargeable - it goes without saying that the party also called for a "cost brake for PCR tests" to prevent the unvaccinated from being "ripped off", according to SPD leader Saskia Esken.
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Montgomery, however, thinks that unvaccinated people have to accept disadvantages.
“The example of France shows how well it works.
There you can no longer go to the restaurant or the cinema without a vaccination.
You can only drive a car if you have a driver's license, ”he told the“ Rheinische Post ”.
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