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Ready-fitted syringes with Biontech vaccine (symbol image)
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Nicolas Armer / dpa
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Economy: compulsory vaccination should be proportionate and practicable
04.05 a.m .:
Business associations have asked politicians to create framework conditions that can be implemented in the event that general vaccination is introduced in Germany.
"Should vaccination become compulsory after all other means have been exhausted, it must be proportionate, understandable and practicable," explained Industry President Siegfried Russwurm and Employer President Rainer Dulger to the dpa news agency.
"We are convinced that compulsory vaccination will then also find broader acceptance among those who are affected by it." From the point of view of the Federal Association of Medium-sized Businesses, compulsory vaccination should initially be introduced in stages.
For the first time on Wednesday, the Bundestag will be debating in detail the introduction of compulsory vaccination in Germany.
RKI reports 164,000 new infections, incidence at 940.6
3:47 a.m .:
In Germany, the number of known infections increases by 164,000 to a good nine million, according to data on the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) website.
The number of deaths increases by 166 to 117,126.
The seven-day incidence is 940.6.
Read the whole message here.
Association: 100 trade fairs postponed or canceled this year
3:36 a.m .:
Another difficult corona year is emerging for the exhibition industry. "At least 100 of the 390 planned trade fairs have already been postponed or canceled to later months or the coming year," said the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) on Wednesday. This means that the economic damage to the industry this year has already amounted to around five billion euros.
"Corona ordinances of the countries that are valid for four weeks or less are not a basis for business," criticized Auma Managing Director Jörn Holtmeier.
"Aid packages would be unnecessary if the trade fair industry were not further prevented from being able to organize trade fairs that are certainly feasible in the third year of this pandemic." Accordingly, the economic damage caused by the pandemic in the past two years totaled around 46 billion euros.
NRW wants to give Novavax vaccine priority to healthcare workers
02.45 a.m .:
North Rhine-Westphalia plans to primarily vaccinate employees in the health services with Novavax.
"The Conference of Health Ministers considers it necessary to give priority to vaccinating the Novavax vaccine to previously unvaccinated employees in the facilities in which vaccination is to be compulsory in the future," said a spokesman for NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann ( CDU) of the »Rheinische Post«.
“This is intended to give employees who have not yet been able to decide on a Covid vaccination the opportunity to obtain a full vaccination with the new Novavax vaccine in a timely manner.” The vaccine is expected to be available from the end of February, said the spokesman further.
The ministry is currently working on the distribution mechanism.
From March 15th, there will be a facility-related vaccination requirement for employees in the health sector.
Vaccination refusers are then threatened with dismissal.
The health ministers of the federal and state governments had proposed on Saturday that employees in the health sector and in care should be able to receive the Novavax vaccine “preferred”.
This is protein-based, which is a long-established method.
Therefore, the vaccine could also be of interest to people who have reservations about novel mRNA and vector vaccines.
However, countries can decide for themselves who they make the Novavax vaccine available to.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, all citizens can register for it.
The number of new infections continues to rise in South Korea
1:59 a.m .:
The number of new infections in South Korea is skyrocketing.
Prime Minister Kim Boo Kyum announces more than 13,000 new cases after a record 8,571 the previous day.
Since last week, the omicron variant has dominated in South Korea.
Bundestag debate on compulsory vaccination
12:30 a.m .:
Today the Bundestag is debating the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate in the fight against the corona virus.
Group applications are planned by MPs from different parties who are in favor of or against compulsory vaccination.
The traffic light government does not want to submit its own application, but to allow cross-party applications with reference to ethical issues.
The advocates of compulsory vaccination justify it, among other things, with the low vaccination rate in Germany.
Your opponents see them as an inadmissible encroachment on personal liberties.
France reports 501,635 new infections
12:01 a.m .:
With more than half a million registered new corona infections within one day, France has recorded a high since the pandemic began.
As the French health authority said on Tuesday evening, 501,635 new infections were registered within 24 hours.
However, the values on Mondays are often significantly lower than on other days of the week.
The already enormously high number of cases in France thus continued to rise.
The incidence value, i.e. the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week, was last nationwide at around 3726. The omicron variant now accounts for more than 95 percent of cases in the country with a good 67 million inhabitants.
cop/AFP/dpa/Reuters
