Germany fully vaccinates more than half of population
Follow UsStory highlights
Currently, the unvaccinated people in Germany can access the public spaces by showing a negative Covid test. However, if the Covid infections keep increasing the government plans to introduce curbs for unvaccinated people
A few days after urging all locals to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus as soon as possible, Germany has managed to fully vaccinate more than half of the population.
Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, took to the social media platform Twitter to announce the numbers. "41.8 million Germans now have full protection, while 61.1 percent have received at least one shot. The more people who get vaccinated, the safer we will be in autumn and winter," he tweeted.
Unlike other European countries such as Greece and France, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has assured locals that the country will not be making Covid vaccines compulsory.
"We have no intention of going down this road," Merkel said in a press conference. "There will be no compulsory vaccination."
However, her statement was followed by an announcement that the government is planning to bring out some restrictions for the unvaccinated people of the country.
Currently, unvaccinated Germans are allowed to use all public spaces such as restaurants, cinemas, and sporting venues if they can provide a negative Covid test result. However, if the coronavirus infections keep increasing due to the Delta variant, the government will be introducing curbs for unvaccinated people.
"That could mean that visiting places like restaurants, cinemas and stadiums would no longer be possible even for tested unvaccinated people because the risk is too high," Helge Braun told a local newspaper.
Meanwhile, Merkel has been urging locals to get vaccinated against coronavirus as soon as possible to stop the spread of the Delta variant. "The more are vaccinated, the more free we can be again," she told locals. "We are at the beginning of the phase in which we are still promoting (vaccination), where we have more vaccines than we have people who want to be vaccinated."