Vaccination in Germany: The next possible coalition government, SPD, Greens and FDP, intend to bring about the introduction of daily testing of employees who are not vaccinated or have not already contracted the coronavirus. This could mean that the 3G rule could apply to all jobs, informs Spiegel.
SPD spokeswoman for health policies in the Bundestag, Sabine Dittmar, confirmed this information at a press conference. This means that employees who have not been vaccinated yet or those who have not healed will have to test negative.
What will determine the testing of employees in Germany?
The introduction of the 3G rule in the workplace has not yet been provided in the draft of the new law on protection against infections, but the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is working on formulating the legal text, Dittmar said. Many details have not yet been determined, such as how violations should be punished.
Mandatory testing started looking like a possible solution after the situation in German hospitals escalated leading to a worsened and alarming number of new infections and doctors and care givers becoming tired and overwhelmed.
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However, the possible future governing coalition does not want to prolong the pandemic ‘state of emergency’ after 25 November.
The leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, defended the decision: Given the vaccination rate of about 70%, the question must be asked “whether serious and general violations of fundamental rights are still acceptable,” the politician said.