Because in Germany there is tension over the new anti Covid restrictions
Possible restrictions on unvaccinated cause a political storm in Germany. All the details in the article in the newspaper El Pais
Minister Helge Braun, Merkel's most trusted politician, says unvaccinated people could be banned from restaurants, cinemas and stadiums. Meanwhile, CDU candidate to replace Merkel, Armin Laschet, opposes any vaccination requirements.
The German political world – we read in El Pais – is facing a confrontation this week that will have great consequences, both in terms of winning the votes to win the next national elections and the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The debate began with Federal Chancellor Helge Braun's remarks to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The minister, a trusted politician of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said on Sunday that restrictions on people refusing to be vaccinated may be necessary if covid-19 infections hit new records in the coming months, as may be the case in Germany.
POSSIBLE RESTRICTIONS IN GERMANY
Braun said unvaccinated people could be prevented from entering places such as restaurants, cinemas or stadiums "because the residual risk is too high". The minister expressed concern about the possible consequences of a new wave of the pandemic on the labor market. He said sick leave will reach "record levels" and stressed that the impact on companies' work processes will be "enormous". "We are already seeing this in the UK," he said, "vaccinated people will certainly have more freedom than unvaccinated ones." Braun said such policies, if passed, would be constitutional because "the state has a responsibility to protect the health of its citizens."
The vaccination campaign in Germany has slowed down in recent weeks and this has led to discussions on how to encourage people to get vaccinated. Last week, 678,459 first doses were given in Germany, the lowest level since the third week of February, when there was a shortage of vaccines in the country. With 15 million unused doses in refrigerators, according to statistics, the daily average of the first doses provided has been down for 33 days. The full program was received by 49 percent of the population, equivalent to 54 percent of those aged 12 and over – 85 percent of those aged 12 to 59 and 90 percent of those aged 60. years and beyond must have received the full program to achieve herd immunity, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the government's disease control agency. More than 60% of the German population has received at least one dose – in Spain the figure exceeds 65%.
Braun's concerns are of real importance. The minister, who is a doctor by profession, fears that the number of new coronavirus cases in Germany will rise to 100,000 per day in about two months. After more than two months of steady decline, cases have increased in the largest European economy since the beginning of July, mainly due to the spread of the delta variant. Braun told the German newspaper that cases were increasing by 60 percent per week. “If the delta variant continued to spread at this rate and we didn't counter it with a very high vaccination rate or a change in behavior, we would have an incidence of 850 (per 100,000 people) in just nine weeks. This equates to about 100,000 new infections a day, ”he said, adding that this would lead to quarantine and economic chaos.
DANGEROUS DIVISION
The issue has caused a dangerous rift within Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). CDU candidate to replace Merkel for the government of Germany, Armin Laschet, has expressed his opposition to any formal or informal requirements for the vaccine at this time. "I don't believe in mandatory vaccination and I don't think we should indirectly urge people to get vaccinated," Laschet told Germany's second largest public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday. “In a free country there are rights to freedom, not just for specific groups. If vaccination rates in Germany are still too low at the end of the year, other options could be considered, but not now, ”he insisted. Laschet is also not in favor of banning unvaccinated people from going to cinemas and restaurants, as Braun has suggested. Those who are "tested, cured or vaccinated," he said, should be exempted from the restrictions.
Laschet's remarks have been described by some German media as almost a Merkel slap. During a recent visit to the Robert Koch Institute, the chancellor ruled out compulsory vaccination "for the moment", but stressed: "I do not rule out the possibility of speaking differently in a few months". At her latest summer press conference, Merkel made a dramatic appeal to the public to step up vaccination efforts in the face of rising infection numbers. "The more people are vaccinated, the freer we will be again," the chancellor said. “Only together can we overcome the pandemic. Therefore, people must also actively promote vaccination in their private environment and workplace. Each vaccination is a small step towards greater protection for all ”.
IN FAVOR OF ANY RESTRICTIONS
Karl Lauterbach, a well-known and respected Social Democrat health expert, spoke in favor of possible restrictions. He told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that soon one of the only options left to combat the new variants will be to "limit access to places where many people congregate" to only those who have been vaccinated or recovered from the virus. His colleague Rolf Mützenich, head of the SPD parliamentary group, said politicians should prioritize vaccinating citizens who want to be vaccinated rather than penalizing the unvaccinated. "We will not change the attitude of individuals towards vaccination with threats," Mützenich said.
Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) has spoken out in favor of greater freedom for the vaccinated. "This is not discrimination against the unvaccinated," he explained in an interview with RTL and ntv . He said he respects if someone decides not to be vaccinated for personal reasons. "But those who are not vaccinated must also realize that we must protect society as a whole and therefore we can only allow the vaccinated to participate in major community events," he added.
Bundestag Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki described Minister Braun's initiative as a de facto attempt to introduce mandatory vaccination from the back door. According to Kubicki, there are no first and second order fundamental rights, which “depend on good behavior defined as a 'right' by the Chancellery”. Kubicki suggested that Braun certainly knew he was heading into "unconstitutional territory" with his demand for unequal treatment of the unvaccinated.
(Extract from the foreign press review by Epr Comunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-in-germania-ce-tensione-sulle-nuove-restrizioni-anti-covid/ on Sun, 01 Aug 2021 05:38:14 +0000.