Live blog: +++ Compulsory vaccination for Google employees in the USA +++

Google and Facebook employees in the US must be vaccinated before returning to the offices. SPD chancellor candidate Scholz is in favor of making corona tests chargeable for many citizens in the foreseeable future.

The director of the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW), Michael Hüther, calls for a corona vaccination for employees in the health and education system. This is necessary “because we are dealing with people in need of protection here,” said the head of the employer-related institute of the “Rheinische Post”. “Children cannot yet be vaccinated, sick and old people have a higher probability of a serious course of the disease despite being vaccinated.”

In Huether’s view, a general compulsory vaccination “depending on the further course of the pandemic” should not be ruled out from the outset. At the moment, apart from the health and education sectors, “smart incentives are the better way”. “From the beginning of September, when all adults had a vaccination offer, rapid tests should be chargeable,” the economic researcher also demanded. “Anyone who would like to attend an event without vaccination must first do a PCR test and pay the costs out of their own pocket.”

Consideration should also be given to “involving those unwilling to vaccinate in the case of Covid disease in the treatment costs,” added Hüther. “Anyone who withdraws from the solidarity principle should not be able to make use of it, or only to a limited extent.”

The vaccine from US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has a longer shelf life, according to the US Food and Drug Safety Authority (FDA). After reviewing the data submitted by J&J, the shelf life will be six months instead of the four and a half months previously assumed if the vaccine is stored between two to eight degrees Celsius.

SPD chancellor candidate Scholz is in favor of making corona tests chargeable for many citizens in the foreseeable future. At an event in Berlin, Scholz said that it was not understandable that the state would pay for tests if there was a better alternative of vaccination. The fee shouldn’t be very high, said Scholz. The tests should remain free of charge in schools and companies as well as for those who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn contradicts the President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, in the debate about the importance of incidence as a leading indicator in the pandemic. “As the vaccination rate increases, the incidence becomes less meaningful,” Spahn told the newspaper “Bild”. Therefore, it is “imperative to need further key figures in order to evaluate the situation”, such as the number of newly admitted Covid-19 patients in the hospital. But: “By far not enough people in Germany have been vaccinated to be able to do without looking at the incidence”.

The planned general compulsory corona test for holiday returnees who do not have proof of a complete vaccination or recovery is supported by the heads of government of several federal states. Berlin’s governing mayor Michael Müller told the editorial network Germany: “The tests are the central building block to curb the infection rate in the unvaccinated population.” The SPD politician demanded that all those returning to travel should be able to present either a negative test, proof of recovery or proof of vaccination.

Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer also emphasized that it was known from last year that those returning from travel contributed a lot to the increase in the number of infections. “It is a little extra effort for each of us, but creates a lot of security,” said the CDU politician about a corona test obligation.

The Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), said the aim was not to bring any infections into the country in order to keep incidences as low as possible and to enable children and adolescents to attend school and daycare as normally as possible. A new hard lockdown should be avoided at all costs. Dreyer expects a concept from the federal government, “how the control and compliance with the test obligation are to be ensured”.

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder is also putting further pressure on compulsory corona testing for holidaymakers. He urged that it be done now, said Söder on ZDF. The delta variant continues to expand, so you have to prepare for autumn.

Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble considers it appropriate that those who have been vaccinated and recovered from the corona pandemic enjoy more freedom than those who have not been vaccinated. It has been proven that after recovery or after a full vaccination, the risk of infecting others decreases significantly, said Schäuble of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. “Therefore we will not be able to permanently subject these groups to all the restrictions that must apply to non-vaccinated people in order to fight the pandemic,” emphasized the CDU politician. He also sees no constitutional problems for such a different treatment.

Schäuble was concerned about the lower vaccination rate in Germany. “I cannot understand the lack of willingness to vaccinate, that makes me extremely sad,” said the Speaker of Parliament. At the beginning of the year, people couldn’t have waited to get the injection that saved them. “And now family doctors are in despair because they are left with massive amounts of vaccine doses.” Complete vaccination protection for as many people as possible is the only chance to put Corona in its place and to secure freedom.

Google and Facebook employees in the US must be vaccinated against the coronavirus before returning to the offices. The companies communicated this independently of one another. Google boss Sundar Pichai said the regulation would initially affect the United States, but will also apply to other regions in the coming months, as soon as vaccinations are widely available there. As a result of the recent increase in new corona infections in the USA due to the Delta variant, Google is also postponing the planned larger return to the offices until October 18, as Pichai explained.

Apple, on the other hand, had already postponed the return to the offices last week by initially one month, now until October. However, the company has not yet announced any compulsory vaccination. On Facebook, personnel manager Lori Goler said that the implementation of mandatory vaccinations for employees in the US offices would depend on “local conditions and regulations”. There will also be a procedure for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons. The procedure with a view to locations outside the US would be examined further, it said.

The vaccination campaign in the USA is now on the point – and that despite an abundance of vaccines and many vaccination incentives. Therefore, the states of New York and California as well as several cities have already announced compulsory vaccination for employees. According to President Joe Biden, the federal government is also examining compulsory vaccinations for its two million employees. According to the regulation under consideration, those who do not want to be vaccinated will have to undergo regular corona tests. However, Biden has clearly rejected the idea of ​​a nationwide vaccination requirement.