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A clubgoer stops for a rapid COVID-19 test on Aug. 6 outside Berlin's KiKat Club, one of six taking part in a limited reopening of nightclubs. Germany is considering measures to require test results or proof of vaccination status for access to large indoor gatherings.
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Law professor Thorsten Kingreen could not help but feel anxious as he watched a soccer match at a stadium a few days ago in his hometown of Regensburg, a Bavarian city in Southeast Germany.
It wasn’t how the game unfolded on the pitch that made him nervous – it was his observation that not all of the spectators heeded to COVID-19 physical distancing protocols.
“I would have liked to know whether the person sitting next to me had gotten the vaccine or only been tested,” said Prof. Kingreen, who himself is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Federal laws in Germany do not require people to be vaccinated or show proof of vaccination to be allowed to attend sporting events, leaving it up to the states to decide which restrictions to impose. But that could all change soon. Germany is preparing to introduce sweeping measures that could exclude unvaccinated people from many areas of public life if COVID-19 infections continue to rise.
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People ride past the Reichstag, seat of Germany's parliament, on a July evening.
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According to local media outlets, Germany’s health ministry outlined proposals to parliament and representatives of the country’s 16 federal states detailing how the country should handle the pandemic in the coming months.
The proposed measures would allow only those who have been vaccinated against the virus, have recovered from an infection, or can provide proof of a negative test result access to facilities including restaurants, hotels, hairdressers and sports stadiums. Large gatherings, both inside and outside, would be inaccessible to those who do not fulfill the criteria.
The German government would also reserve the right to exclude unvaccinated people from these facilities if COVID-19 cases rise to a level that might overwhelm the health system, meaning a test would no longer be considered a valid safeguard.
On top of these measures, Health Minister Jens Spahn recommended that Germany start charging for rapid antigen tests, which are currently free. It is hoped that making Germans pay may encourage some to get inoculated.
The health ministry’s plan will be discussed at a summit between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the state premiers on Tuesday. If approved, the measures are expected to come into effect this fall.
Mr. Spahn warned parliament and the state leaders that tighter restrictions may be needed if COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates continue to rise.
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Weekly infections in Germany have risen steadily in the past few weeks. There were five new cases per 100,000 people at the beginning of July. Now, that number has more than tripled.
At the same time, the number of vaccinations administered daily has decreased from almost 1.5 million doses in June to less than 500,000 at the beginning of August. Doses are available to all Germans aged 12 and older, free of charge.
Only 62 per cent of the population are partially vaccinated for now – far less than in Canada, where 71 per cent of the population has received at least one shot.
Mr. Spahn’s proposals are in line with remarks made earlier by the chancellery. Ms. Merkel’s chief of staff, Helge Braun from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag: “Vaccinated people will definitely have more freedoms than unvaccinated people.”
Nevertheless, some members of government are wary of the proposals. The federal Minister of Justice, Christine Lambrecht from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), told the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper that not everyone in the cabinet agreed with Mr. Spahn’s proposals.
“Vaccination remains a voluntary decision. There will be no mandatory vaccination,” she said.
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Jens Spahn is Germany's federal Health Minister.
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Several social democratic heads of German states also opposed the idea. But Prof. Kingreen, who teaches at the University of Regensburg, says such restrictions would be in line with German law. “When considering new restrictions, we have to differentiate between people who pose a danger and people who don’t,” he told The Globe and Mail.
This is required by the German constitution, which only allows limiting fundamental rights of people in exceptional cases.
Prof. Kingreen added that while vaccinated people are at a low risk of further transmitting the virus, the situation is somewhat different with people who get tested. “Antigen tests are unfortunately unreliable. PCR tests are safer, but are complex and, above all, expensive.”
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Fans in Munich watch an Aug. 8 match between Turkgucu Munich and FC Union Berlin.
Andreas Gebert/Reuters
In parliament, lawmakers appear to be split on the idea of limiting some freedoms of unvaccinated people if infection numbers increase significantly. “Testing has been shown to be less protective against transmission of the virus than vaccination,” Thorsten Frei, the deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group told The Globe. He said such a rule would need to be proportionate, meaning that it could only be applied if severe measures needed to be taken.
The legal policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, said that the constitution required politicians to differentiate between unvaccinated and vaccinated people when thinking about new restrictions. “We cannot restrict the freedoms of people who no longer pose a danger.” Nevertheless, people who did not get the vaccine should still have regular access to public services such as public transit, Mr. Fechner said, since excluding them would be discriminatory.
Ricarda Breyton is a reporter for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper and is participating in ICFJ’s Arthur F. Burns Fellowship.
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Vaccine passports: The case for and against The Globe and Mail's news podcast, The Decibel, let two experts weigh the merits of a system to give vaccinated people access to more public amenities in Canada: Restaurateur Jacob Wharton-Shukster arguing in favour, Cara Zwibel of the the Canadian Civil Liberties Association arguing against. Subscribe for more episodes.