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Corona vaccination: Minister of Health Lauterbach had recently left the question of facility-related compulsory vaccination open
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
The corona vaccination requirement for staff in clinics and nursing homes is expected to expire at the end of the year.
The reason is the dominance of so-called immune-vasive corona variants, as the Federal Ministry of Health said on Monday.
These pathogens may evade the immune response of people who have been vaccinated and/or recovered better than their predecessors.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) recently left open whether the facility-related vaccination requirement in the health and care sector will expire or be extended at the end of the year.
"We will make how we deal with the institution-related vaccination requirement depend on the course of the autumn and winter wave," he said in October during the government survey in the Bundestag when asked whether he wanted to let the law expire or extend it.
Criticism of enforcement effort
The facility-related vaccination requirement has been in effect since mid-March.
The health authorities can issue activity or entry bans for employees of clinics or care facilities if they do not present proof of vaccination or recovery when requested or do not have a certificate that exempts them from a corona vaccination.
The legal basis for compulsory vaccination expires at the end of the year.
There had always been criticism of the regulation, partly because of the effort involved in enforcing it.
Demands for an end had become louder from the countries and the industry.
The board of directors of the Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, welcomed the probable end of the facility-related compulsory vaccination for employees in medical facilities.
"The vaccination protects against serious illnesses and death, but not against the transmission of the virus," Brysch told the "Handelsblatt".
"That's why the facility-related vaccination requirement came to nothing from the start." Many federal states and health authorities have already delayed sanctions.
Corona tests will continue to be funded
For the time being, citizens in Germany should continue to be able to be tested for Corona as before.
"The test regulation will be continued," said the Federal Ministry of Health.
Funding is secured until the end of February.
This creates the conditions for a seamless further supply.
The current regulation of state funding for the tests ends on November 25.
In the past few days, government votes had been held on a follow-up regulation.
Demands for an end to the billions in payments for citizen tests had come from the co-governing FDP.
Since a new regulation in the summer, there have only been free citizen tests for certain risk groups.
As a rule, you have to pay three euros out of your own pocket for a quick test: for example before going to a concert, larger family celebrations or visiting older people.
ktz/dpa