After Corona scandal: Bundestag deletes its own extra sausage for those who have recovered - probably with consequences for AfD
Created: 02/10/2022, 15:55
By: Stephanie Munk
AfD MPs who are not vaccinated, recovered, tested (3G) follow the inaugural session of the new Bundestag from the grandstand.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
After a corona infection, you are only three months in Germany as recovered.
So far, there has been an exception for members of the Bundestag.
That's over - and could hit the AfD hard.
Berlin – The shortening of the recovered status from six to three months in Germany caused a stir * – and is still reverberating, including in the form of hard attacks on Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and RKI boss Lothar Wieler.
The FDP even denied Wieler's trust because of this "misconduct"*.
But it stayed the same: Anyone who falls ill with Corona in Germany but is not vaccinated is only considered to have recovered in 90 days - and therefore only has certain advantages in terms of 2G rules for a short time.
Recovered-Extrawust in the Bundestag: The culprit was the complicated procedure
The Bundestag has been an exception so far: MPs were still considered to have recovered for six months *, which was due to the so-called general decree of the Bundestag and - according to Parliament President Bärbel Bas (SPD) - the very complicated procedure around it.
This will change from next week.
The shortened convalescent status should also apply to members of the Bundestag.
This changes the rules for access by members of parliament and employees to plenary and committee meetings, as the Bundestag administration announced on Thursday.
Those who have recovered without an additional vaccination are now only granted access up to a maximum of 90 days after the positive test result;
previously the period had been 180 days.
The general decree was changed for this – prior to this, Bas had reached an agreement with the parliamentary groups.
The new decree is initially limited to March 13th.
Recovered status shortened in the Bundestag: the unvaccinated are not allowed in the plenary hall
The reduction in the status of those who have recovered is likely to affect AfD MPs in the Bundestag in particular.
There are numerous MPs in their ranks who have recovered but not been vaccinated.
They must follow the debates in the plenary hall from a specially reserved visitor gallery, which they can only access if they present a negative corona test.
There were also problems at committee meetings.
There are also changes for MPs who have only received a single vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
They will need to show another vaccination from next week to gain access to plenary and committee meetings.
The goal of the adjusted rules is “to keep the incidence of infection in the Bundestag properties as low as possible and to ensure the ability of parliament to work,” explained the parliamentary administration.
However, the German three-month rule for the recovered status remains controversial - virologist Hendrik Streeck has also settled with the RKI decision.
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AFP/smu) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.