Berlin, Dec. 23 (BNA): German Chancellor Olaf Schulz has set his government an ambitious target of achieving an 80% vaccination rate against the coronavirus in Germany by January 7.
Target refers to vaccinations for the first time, according to government spokesman Stephen Hebestreet. Currently, 61.2 million people in Germany have been vaccinated at least once, which is 73.6 percent of the total population, German news agency DPA reported.
To reach 80 percent, however, another 5.3 million people will need to receive their first vaccination by January 7.
On that date, Schulz plans to hold the next discussions on combating the coronavirus pandemic with the prime ministers of German states.
As efforts continue to tackle the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in Germany, the country’s ethics board has come out in favor of extending the vaccination requirement in some occupations to “large parts of the population”.
The ethical body said that in addition to providing nationwide vaccination and adequate vaccine stores, it should be up, as far as possible, to the individual who will get the vaccine.
The body also recommended direct invitations with in-person appointments, a secure National Immunization Registry with data and easy-to-understand information about vaccines.
The Ethics Board has been asked to conduct an assessment on the issue by the federal and state governments before the Bundestag vote to make vaccination mandatory, scheduled for early next year.
Chancellor Schultz, who has spoken in favor of the move, said lawmakers will be able to vote on their conscience over the measure.
The vaccination rate in Germany is lagging behind that of some other Western European countries. As of Tuesday, 70.4 percent of residents had received the recommended number of strikes for primary protection. At least 32.6 percent have already received a booster injection.
The incidence of new infections in Germany fell by seven days per 100,000 inhabitants on Wednesday, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which reported a value of 289 on Wednesday, down from 306.4 on Tuesday, from 353 last week, and from 386.5. Last month.
Health authorities recorded 45,659 new coronavirus infections in RKI within one day. Exactly one week ago, there were 51,301 new infections. The number of reported infections decreased for about three weeks. However, experts fear that the downtrend may soon reverse due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.
According to the new data, 510 deaths were recorded in Germany within 24 hours. A week ago, there were 453 deaths in the same period.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, the RKI has counted 6,878,709 confirmed infections, 5,933,400 people have recovered from the infection and a total of 109,324 deaths.
The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized per 100,000 population within seven days was set by RKI on Wednesday at 4.57, down from 4.73 on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Schulz announced that next week Germany will impose caps on private gatherings, close clubs on New Year’s Eve and close major sporting events to spectators to slow the spread of Omicron.
The chair of the Standing Committee on Immunization (STIKO), Thomas Mertens, spoke on Wednesday in favor of more comprehensive communication restrictions.
In light of Omicron’s ease of transmission, many more connectivity restrictions will have to be imposed than is currently the case – and “very quickly,” Mertens told local newspaper Schwaebische Zeitung. Chief Stiko explained whether a complete shutdown should be difficult now.
MI