Germany will stop paying compensation to unvaccinated workers in quarantine out of “fairness” to those who are vaccinated as countries debate whether to impose vaccine mandates.
The new rules, which will go into effect by Oct. 11 at the latest, will affect workers who test positive for COVID-19 and travelers returning from “high risk” countries. Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister, argued that these new rules should not be compared to vaccine mandates, according to Reuters.
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“We should see this differently,” Spahn said during a news conference. “It’s about fairness. Those who protect themselves and others via a vaccination can rightly ask why we should have to pay somebody who ended up in quarantine after a holiday in a risk area.”
The country is also taking new measures to encourage vaccinations. COVID-19 tests will stop being free of charge beginning on Oct. 11, and some German states are allowing businesses to choose whether to admit people with negative tests or only those who have been vaccinated or have recently recovered from COVID-19, the outlet reported.
Other countries have introduced new rules in an attempt to raise vaccine rates. President Joe Biden announced on Sept. 9 that all businesses with over 100 employees would need to require workers to either get vaccinated or get tested for COVID-19 weekly.
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Roughly two-thirds of people in Germany have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 62% fully vaccinated. By the start of 2022, 68% of residents will be fully vaccinated, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
