Before federal-state meeting: “Pressure on non-vaccinated people will increase”

With which corona strategy are the federal and state governments going into autumn? The decision is due to be made on Tuesday and the political discussion is in full swing. Municipalities and business are pressing for clarity.

Before the federal-state consultations on Tuesday, a discussion about the rights and obligations of unvaccinated and vaccinated people broke out. Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus called for a change of perspective. He is currently experiencing “that the vaccinated are angry with the non-vaccinated”, Brinkhaus told the “Welt am Sonntag”. “I think the pressure from the vaccinated part of the population will increase enormously. And that is completely understandable.”

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet, on the other hand, refused to discriminate against those who had not been vaccinated if they had a negative corona test. “The state must not exclude those who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested from participating in social life,” said the CDU / CSU candidate for chancellor of “Bild am Sonntag”. The so-called 3-G rule (vaccinated, recovered or tested) is “sensible, measured and practicable”.

Bovenschulte against disadvantages for unvaccinated people

Bremen’s mayor Andreas Bovenschulte argues similarly. “I think you can go further with conviction than with pressure. At least that is the experience we made in Bremen,” said the SPD politician to the “Handelsblatt”. He considers approaches to exclude non-vaccinated persons from certain events or visits to be “not very effective”. So it is not possible to make a clear demarcation from the basic care of a person, said Bovenschulte.

“Are election events, going to church or folk high school courses part of a person’s basic care? What about swimming or going to the fitness center to keep yourself healthy?” ” In addition, there are already noticeable disadvantages for those who have not been vaccinated.

“Non-vaccinated people limit the life of vaccinated people”

Brinkhaus, however, sees it differently: The vaccinated had made appointments and some accepted that they were not doing well the day after the vaccination. “And they are now experiencing that they still do not get their freedoms back in full.” The chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag said: “Too much is being talked about the alleged indirect compulsory vaccination and too little about the rights of those who have been vaccinated.”

According to his own words, the CDU politician assumes that hoteliers, clubs and event organizers will only allow vaccinated people into their homes in the future. Brinkhaus also called for a return to life before Corona: “We have to return to normality, soon and not in years. A residual risk will remain, but we will have to deal with it then.” The group leader added: “I am part of the caution team, but we cannot subordinate our lives to Covid for the next 30 years.”

Equate unvaccinated individuals only with the PCR test

Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) also expects that there will be restrictions for unvaccinated people in the future. Tschentscher told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” that this would prevent another lockdown for business, culture, education and private life. “When the majority of people are no longer at risk from vaccination, we cannot restrict the entire population again.” Vaccination is the way out of the pandemic.

In Tschentscher’s opinion, unvaccinated persons should in future only be equated with those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered with a negative PCR test. “Rapid antigen tests are not reliable enough,” said the SPD politician. In addition, quarantine after traveling to risk areas should only be able to be lifted after five days if the PCR test is negative. “Rapid antigen tests are not suitable for this.”

Habeck calls for more rights for those who have been vaccinated

Green leader Robert Habeck also takes the non-vaccinated to account: “It’s not about excluding the unvaccinated,” he said in the ZDF summer interview. It is about giving back basic rights and a free life to those who have been vaccinated – even in winter and autumn. “There will be a difference in access of rights and freedom of life between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Indeed, the vaccinated will have more rights as long as society and the health system can support it.”

You have the right not to be vaccinated. “But you do not have the right that everyone who has been vaccinated and the rest of society and the children should take it into account because you have decided to endanger your own life and society,” said Habeck. There must be low-threshold vaccination offers, for example in front of discounters, in front of food banks or in schools. These funds have not yet been exhausted.

Restrictions on the unvaccinated are fueling debate

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the heads of government of the federal states want to discuss how to proceed on Tuesday. The Federal Ministry of Health has made suggestions. Above all, possible restrictions on the unvaccinated are causing debate. The ministry also proposed an end to the free rapid tests by mid-October. For more than a month, the number of new infections has been increasing again every day.

The City Council calls for a vaccination strategy for autumn and winter in order to be better prepared for a fourth corona wave. “We have a whole series of new vaccination tasks ahead of our breasts: booster vaccinations for the elderly and those in need of care, more vaccinations for children from the age of twelve and many more direct vaccination offers,” said General Manager Helmut Dedy. Cities need clarity beyond September, when most of the major vaccination centers close.

Municipalities and business are calling for a uniform approach

The Association of Towns and Municipalities demanded a uniform approach from the federal and state governments. “We must not begin to weave new patchwork carpets,” said chief executive Gerd Landsberg of the Funke media group. The existing rules on distance, masks and hygiene should continue to apply everywhere – regardless of vaccinations.

FDP parliamentary group Vice Michael Theurer called for a “binding plan to prevent the next lockdown”. Corresponding demands are also coming from the economy. “Another lockdown, catastrophic for German medium-sized companies, must now be ruled out with binding effect,” says a letter from the Federal Association of Medium-Sized Businesses to Laschet, which is available to the dpa news agency.

The General Secretary of the CDU Economic Council, Wolfgang Steiger, warned the editorial network Germany: “Another lockdown would be the ultimate break of the neck for many small and medium-sized companies in the catering, hotel and retail sectors.”

Fixation on the incidence value will probably fall

There is a lot of approval for demands that the seven-day incidence no longer be the sole benchmark for corona measures. The occupancy of hospital beds and intensive care units must also be decisive, said Laschet. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt found in the “Bild am Sonntag”: “Incidence as the sole measure of all things has had its day.” Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) promoted a “Corona traffic light”.