Because Germany does not follow the Macron model on Green Pass and beyond
Pierluigi Mennitti's article on Germany's vaccination strategy
With infections recovering due to the delta variant of the covid, Germany is also wondering about the measures to be taken to prevent the situation from getting out of control again in the autumn.
On the one hand, the government, on the basis of the advice of the Koch Institut, intends to base any future restrictions not only on the incidence rate (number of new cases in 7 days per 100,000 inhabitants), the compass that guided the management of the crisis during the second and the third wave of the pandemic, but supplement it with indicators on the overcrowding and sustainability of hospital infrastructure.
On the other hand, there are questions about the rights of vaccinated people and those of those who do not intend to get the vaccine, but above all about what the right incentives might be to overcome what the media call "vaccination fatigue".
A complete vaccination (one dose for Johnson & amp; Johnson, two doses for all other authorized vaccines) also seems to protect effectively from the delta variant, especially as regards the risk of a serious course of the disease. It is therefore expected that, in the coming months, the increase in infections will not correspond to a proportional growth in hospitalizations, both for vaccination coverage on a large part of the population and for the fact that the majority of the unvaccinated will be young people or children, less severely affected by the virus even if not immune from the risks of "long covid" and in some cases from a serious course.
Therefore, if the concerns shift more to the school front and the discussion focuses on the most suitable measures to face the autumn months without prejudice to the third school year in a row, the debate remains on how to convince the reluctant to get vaccinated, to reduce to the virus as much as possible the occasions of infection (and mutation).
The Macron example has also made headlines in Germany, the rush of the French to reserve the vaccine in the face of the risk of limitations to daily life, however, has not changed the principle to which the government, Angela Merkel and the Minister of Health Jens Spahn in first person , have kept faith since January: no vaccination obligation.
Two points must be made. First: if on the one hand there was a slowdown in the pace of vaccination not due to lack of doses, the willingness of Germans to get vaccinated was and still is quite high, even in those professional groups sensitive to proximity to the public, such as health or school personnel. Second: even the alarm of the past few weeks about an alleged tendency to desert the second dose seems unfounded. Regional data collected by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung did not reveal any cancellations of appointments, but only the preference for general practitioners instead of vaccination centers. In short, those who have decided to get vaccinated generally complete the entire process. The problem is the others.
To make a parallel with the discussion in Italy, in the forest of regulations that differ from Land to Land in Germany some obligations remain, such as those for drinks in bars or restaurants or to enter the theater or cinema. Outside, no problem, inside you must have had the second dose of the vaccine for at least 14 days, or be cured of the covid or have the negative result of a daily swab. The obligation remains – for everyone, without distinction – to wear masks in all shops and supermarkets and FFP2 masks on all public transport. In short, those who are not vaccinated already encounter various limitations. There is a digital pass, in addition to the yellow paper one, with an app that can be downloaded to smartphones and completed
by uploading the “code” of the digital vaccination certificate issued by the centers, GP's clinics or pharmacies. After 14 from the second dose, the app certifies the immunization achieved.
However, a wide range of new alternatives to compulsory vaccination are flourishing, many of which target the wallet. The president of the health insurance funds proposed to abolish the gratuity of the so-called citizenship tampons, for which the state commits a lot of resources: they should become paid, so that those who decide not to get vaccinated bear the costs of their choice. An economist from Karlsruhe, Nora Szech, a studio from the Ifo institute in hand, suggested rewarding those who change their mind with respect to the injection with 500 euros: an incentive that could bring the total quota of vaccinated to the coveted 90%, threshold of achievement herd immunity. The president of the association that brings together the doctors of intensive care instead advises to imitate the United States and to launch a kind of lottery. In Berlin, some neighborhoods
they experiment with “creative initiatives”: most recently a vaccine drive-in day took place in the large parking lot of one of the Ikea warehouses.
There is no shortage of tougher proposals. Like that of the president of the medical funds of North Rhine-Westphalia, who calls for strong restrictions for the unvaccinated: no travel, no stadiums, no swimming pools and even the obligation to wear masks in supermarkets when this is removed for the vaccinated. This is echoed by the mayor of Rostock, a Hanseatic town on the Baltic, which has gained a certain notoriety in recent months for a good management of the crisis: life must be made impossible for the unvaccinated, he said. But the national government seems more willing to continue on the path of persuasion, while restoring a greater dose of freedom to those who have been vaccinated. Creative initiatives on the Berlin model are planned, vaccination days in shopping malls or in front of churches and mosques, other drive-ins, perhaps a vaccine white night. Waiting to see how the hospitalization curve will evolve and what will be the repercussions on the school world upon reopening
Augustan.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/germania-green-pass-vaccini-obbligo/ on Sat, 17 Jul 2021 06:00:48 +0000.