Unvaccinated people could lose unemployment benefits under certain circumstances
Nationwide, the vaccination rate is declining again. An average of just over 3.5 million vaccinations per week will be achieved. So the chancellor’s ambitious goal of 10 million vaccinations per week in January will be missed by a long way.
Source: WORLD/ Alina Quast
T he head of the Federal Employment Agency, Detlef Scheele, sees consequences for the labor market if a general Corona vaccination is introduced. If there was a general obligation to vaccinate and violations were associated with legal consequences, "employers could reject an applicant because he is not vaccinated or recovered," Scheele told the newspapers of the Funke-Mediengruppe. "We as a federal agency must then also check whether a lack of vaccination leads to a blocking period."A blocking period means that an unemployed person does not receive unemployment benefits for a certain period of time.
The SPD parliamentary group also has its eye on the consequences for the labor market. "We are currently examining very closely, together with the Federal Ministry of Labor, whether we should make vaccination mandatory for employers," health policy spokeswoman Heike Baehrens told the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" newspaper. "It would probably be more effective than a fine if health authorities banned unvaccinated employees from entering their company – but I can hardly imagine that for the entire labor market, rather for certain industries and institutions," she continued.
At the same time, however, the goal is "that the vaccination requirement works and companies can go about their business again without staff shortages". A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Labor told the two newspapers that with regard to the consequences under labor law, "discussions are currently taking place within the Federal Government". Scheele had explained that the vaccination status of employees currently has de facto no effect on the labor market, "because there is currently no corresponding legal basis".
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20:25 – Council of experts calls for better information for the population
As a lesson from the pandemic, the German government”s Council of Experts has proposed building a “sustainable infrastructure” to provide the population with “evidence-based, rapid and effective information”. A lack of consistency of available information, its assessments and the resulting recommendations contributes to “uncertainty among the population, provides a target for misinformation and disinformation, undermines confidence in government action and jeopardizes the success of important measures to protect health,” a statement said.
7:45 p.m. – Number of new infections in France slips below 250.000
France has 249.448 new infections reported the sixth decline in a row. On Saturday, 332 were.398 new cases have been recorded, up from more than 501 on Tuesday.000.
6:27 p.m. – Soder considers easing possible after mid-February
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Soder considers early easing possible. The next round of federal/state votes in mid-February should still be waited for, the CSU leader said on ARD television. "I think we just have to go step by step."If there was no overloading of hospitals, freedoms would have to be returned to citizens. "Omicron is something different from delta," said Soder. That’s why other measures are now needed despite high infection rates, he said. More spectators could be in, for example, sports and cultural events, there are also more opportunities in the catering industry and at trade fairs.
6:16 p.m. – Demonstration against Corona measures in Brussels without incident
After last week’s riots, a demonstration against the Corona measures in Brussels this Sunday was largely calm. According to police, about 1600 people marched through the city, the Belga news agency reported. According to the statement, they reached the Atomium in the north of the Belgian capital without incident. According to the report, the demonstrators demanded the removal of the Belgian government because of its Corona policy.
Last week, according to police, about 50.000 people protest in Brussels. Towards the end of the demonstration there were violent riots. According to media reports, demonstrators threw objects at police officers and damaged buildings.
4:59 p.m. – Russia counts more than 120,000 new corona infections in one day
In Russia there are more than 120.000 new Corona cases have been counted in one day, more than ever before. On Sunday, the state Corona task force reported 121.288 new infections. This was about 8000 more than the previous day. In the past 24 hours, there have also been 668 deaths linked to the virus, it said. The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 thus rose to more than 330, according to the working group.700.