Berlin A vaccination requirement for medical professions, more speed with booster vaccinations and thresholds for extensive access restrictions: According to a new draft resolution, the federal and state governments are planning extensive measures to combat the worsening pandemic.
“We can only defeat this virus with an effort made by society as a whole,” says the paper from Thursday afternoon, which the Handelsblatt received (>> read the full text here). In the end, it is the decision paper that counts. However, according to Handelsblatt information, the points contained in the draft are already undisputed among the 16 countries.
- The federal and state governments are planning to make central corona measures dependent on threshold values for the hospitalization rate. The value indicates how many corona patients per 100,000 people had to be hospitalized in the past seven days. Nationwide, the value is currently 5.3.
- From a value of 3, access restrictions for unvaccinated people (2G) for facilities, shops, events and restaurants should apply in a federal state.
- With a value of 6, the 2G-plus rule should apply, in which vaccinated and convalescent people also need a daily negative test.
- From a value of 9, the states can decide on more extensive corona measures, such as contact restrictions, the cancellation of major events such as Christmas markets and the closing of clubs. This was particularly important to the Union.
- In addition, the proposed resolution now includes mandatory vaccination for employees in medical professions. “We have to protect the vulnerable groups in particular,” they say. And further: “The federal states consider it necessary that members of the healing and nursing professions and all employees in hospitals and facilities for the disabled are obliged to get vaccinated against the coronavirus due to the close contact with vulnerable people.”
- In addition, all employees and visitors in nursing homes should be tested daily.
- There should be a 3G rule in local and long-distance public transport. At the start of the journey, the test must not be more than 24 hours old. For the stricter controls, the federal states should “exhaust” the range of fines, for their part increase the control density and punish violations decisively.
- The 3G rule is also provided for work in the company. The employers should check this, get a right to information and should offer free tests at least twice a week.
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With the rules, the federal and state governments want to turn the tide in the worsening corona situation. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported more than 65,000 new infections on Thursday, the seven-day incidence climbed to 319.6, and more than 3,300 corona patients are now being treated in the intensive care units.
“We have never been as worried as we are now,” warned RKI boss Lothar Wieler on Wednesday evening. Wieler warned of a “serious emergency” and a “bad Christmas”.
The number of seriously ill Covid patients is increasing, and people with a stroke and other seriously ill people have to search for a free intensive care bed for up to two hours in some places, said Wieler. “The supply is already no longer in accordance with the rule in all federal states.” And that will increase.
Central topics were controversial at the summit until the very end. Originally, the Union-led federal states campaigned, among other things, to constantly check whether the pandemic emergency had to be declared again. In the draft resolution on Thursday afternoon, the points were no longer to be found.
These proposals were apparently not discussed with the SPD-led countries. Together with the Greens and the FDP, the Social Democrats only decided on Thursday morning to let the epidemic situation come to an end at the end of November. So far, it has been the legal basis for the countries’ corona measures.
The new traffic light law allows low-threshold corona measures and closings of leisure facilities such as clubs as well as the cancellation of major events, but no more blanket lockdowns with closed shops and schools.
The Union had therefore threatened to block the traffic light law. With the planned state opening clause, which grants the states more rights from a high hospitalization rate, nothing should stand in the way of the Union’s approval of the law in the Federal Council, it said.
Speed with vaccinations
On the other hand, the question of how the speed of first and third vaccinations could be increased was comparatively undisputed. It was not until Thursday that the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) made a recommendation for a booster vaccination for all adults whose second vaccination was usually six months ago.
With the new recommendation, the number of third-party vaccinations required has increased by several million people. Assuming that the vaccination protection has to be refreshed after six months, 30 million people will now have to receive the booster vaccination by the end of the year.
This would mean that by the end of the year – excluding Christmas – more vaccinations would have to be carried out per day than at the heyday of the vaccination campaign in the summer, when a million people were vaccinated per day.
There is still a long way to go before then. In the past few days there has been an increasing number of reports from those interested in a booster vaccination who have been sent away by doctors or who have not been given an appointment in the coming weeks.
In Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute, only around 5.7 percent of the population received a third vaccination – so far mainly in doctor’s offices. According to the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (ZI), general practitioners accounted for 72 percent of the vaccinations.
“The vaccination rate is mainly determined by the resident doctors and continues to increase,” said ZI boss Dominik Stillfried the Handelsblatt. “It is important to continue to support this now.” In addition to the support of the federal states, for example through mobile vaccination teams, what is needed above all is reliable framework conditions. “The clear focus on the vulnerable groups is crucial for November and December,” said Stillfried. “The capacities for this are given, there is sufficient vaccine.”
The federal and state governments are now planning to massively expand their vaccination offers – in addition to mobile vaccination teams, hospitals and vaccination centers are also explicitly mentioned. To this end, the federal government should ensure financial support until April 2022.
More: Booster vaccination for everyone aged 18 and over – the most important questions and answers.