Status: 23.07.2021 8:25 a.m.
In Germany, the vaccination rate is slowing down, while the delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading. Can financial incentives such as bonuses help – also in companies? From Notker Blechner.
In the USA, a chain of pharmacies is luring people who want to be vaccinated with a raffle for 100 cruises, in Indonesia there is a live cow or a chicken, and in Hong Kong there is even a new apartment worth more than one million euros in a lottery for people who have been vaccinated against corona. Israel rewards the newly vaccinated with free pizza or hummus, American cities give free beer and free joints, and Serbia gives the citizens 25 euros. To get the increasingly reluctant population to poke, companies and authorities come up with a lot.
“No vaccination, no entry!”
Several US companies even require their employees to be vaccinated. For example, only the employees of the investment bank Morgan Stanley are only allowed to go back to the office if they have full vaccination protection. “No vaccination, no admission” is the motto. Clinics also prescribe immunization. The Houston Methodist Hospital laid off more than 150 employees for not wanting to be vaccinated. And the airlines United Airlines and Delta Airlines only hire vaccinated applicants. United Airlines is even examining compulsory vaccinations for all 96,000 pilots, flight attendants and office workers.
The head of the British plumbing company Pimlico Plumbers threatens his employees: “Anyone who is not vaccinated by early 2022 will be fired.” And: “These cowards have to be branded for what they are: selfish people who don’t mind if a country and other people’s livelihoods go to pieces.”
Compulsory vaccination for health workers
Italy and France have introduced mandatory vaccination for health workers only. Greece also requires proof of vaccination for staff in nursing homes and soon also for staff in the healthcare sector, otherwise there is a risk of termination or transfer.
Germany doesn’t want to go that far. “There will be no compulsory vaccination,” emphasized Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) prefers to speak of a “vaccination requirement”. He is hoping for a national “vaccination print”. With a large advertising campaign he wants to motivate the citizens for the life-saving prick. Actress Uschi Glas, TV presenter Günter Jauch and singer David Hasselhoff appear as “advertising partners” and roll up their sleeves. Whether celebs can help to make people unwilling to get vaccinated? “We have to take the vaccine out on the street – in the nightlife areas, in front of the shisha bars, in front of the cafés,” tweeted SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach – this is how young people who don’t like vaccinations in particular should be reached.
DAX companies reject vaccination incentives
The economy could be an important pillar of the “vaccination pressure”. But this is holding back with all too brash announcements – for fear of massive headwinds from the population. The 30 DAX corporations only agree on the rejection of the “mandatory vaccination”. “Vaccinations remain a voluntary decision,” emphasizes BMW, for example.
Even at the hospital operator Fresenius there are no sanctions in the event of non-vaccination, nor are there any special incentives for vaccination, a spokeswoman said tagesschau.de. It points to a vaccination quota of currently over 70 percent at the Helios clinics. Bayer also says that the company’s vaccination strategy does not provide for bonuses, privileges or other incentives for a corona vaccination. “There will be no vaccination privileges, neither for employees nor for customers,” says Bahn Personnel Director Martin Seiler.
However, a few companies admit that vaccinated people could get certain privileges in the company. The real estate company LEG is considering only admitting those who have been vaccinated or recovered to internal meetings. And a Vonovia spokesman also admits in the “Handelsblatt” that unvaccinated people could possibly be excluded from company celebrations.
Only Edeka gives employees a vaccination bonus
So far, only the supermarket chain Edeka Nord has offered vaccination premiums such as those in the USA, Asia or Israel. The retailer gives 50 euro shopping vouchers to those employees who are vaccinated against Covid-19. Lidl and Aldi have so far rejected such incentives. In the USA, of course, Lidl rewards its employees with 200 euros after the vaccination. Aldi pays two hourly wages per vaccination in the USA.
In theory, German companies have the option of paying a vaccination premium or setting other financial incentives such as additional vacation days or vouchers for the company canteen, says labor lawyer Inka Müller-Seubert from the corporate law firm CMS Hasche Sigle.
Prize draws or free entry to museums for those willing to be vaccinated
More and more politicians are now advocating vaccination incentives. For example, municipalities should give those who get injected a free visit to a museum or a free ticket in local public transport. FDP leader Christian Lindner proposes free entry to museums for those willing to vaccinate. Saarland’s Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) suggests combining the vaccinations with a raffle.
100 euros would be enough
Several sociologists and economists have studied vaccination premiums in depth. A bonus of 100 euros would increase the vaccination rate towards 80 percent, found out Nora Czech from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. With 500 euros “we would achieve 90 percent vaccination readiness”. The researchers Jan Schellenbach from the TU Cottbus-Senftenberg and Ekkehard Köhler from the University of Siegen also advocate a premium of 200 to 300 euros. Likewise, a recruitment bonus for vaccinated people who persuade friends or family members to be vaccinated makes sense.
Ultimately, the costs for a new lockdown due to the Delta variant or other new mutations are likely to be much higher than the premiums for pizza, free beer, joints and free public transport tickets. According to calculations by the Ifo Institute, each vaccination has a value of 1,500 euros for society.
Is there a threat of “cold vaccination”?
A two-class society threatens. In Baden-Württemberg, unvaccinated people should have fewer rights from September. They are required to test when they visit restaurants, bars, clubs, and cultural and sporting events. For people with full vaccination protection, all corona restrictions do not apply.
Some already speak of a “cold vaccination obligation” that we will face in autumn. This means that people who have not been vaccinated have access to many areas of social life such as traveling, going to restaurants or going to the swimming pool, or at least make it more difficult.
“Unvaccinated people are not allowed on vacation”
The chairman of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Rhineland-Palatinate, Peter Heinz, calls for massive restrictions on freedom for those who have not been vaccinated: “Those who have not been vaccinated are not free to take off their masks. They are not allowed to go to the stadium, to the swimming pool or to shop in the supermarket without a mask. And you can no longer allow unvaccinated people and those with just a simple vaccination to go on vacation, “he told the” Rhein-Zeitung “.
US cruise lines show how this works. In order to keep unvaccinated people away in other ways, they charge high costs for various corona tests on some ship trips, for example. In addition, unvaccinated people are not allowed to go ashore individually. Participation in some on-board events is also prohibited.