Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach revealed on August 9 a project to integrate a new functionality into the Corona-Warn application, the equivalent in France of the TousAntiCovid application: the vaccination status of each person would now be recognizable by the color of its QR code, and each color could grant different rights to German citizens. A system that already exists in China, reports the Berlin daily Berliner Zeitung.
Different QR code colors could in future give different rights to German citizens. Far from being unanimous, this project defended by Karl Lauterbach is very controversial. The criticisms focus on the proposal to exempt only recently vaccinated people from the obligation to wear a mask. It does not matter the number of doses: whether people have received three or four does not change the situation. If this system is put in place, these people will have the same status as the non-vaccinated in the event that the number of injections required by the authorities is greater than that which they have already received. An equality that will give them the same rights or rather the same “absences” of rights as the people who refused the injections.
If the Minister of Health does not think that people will be vaccinated every three months to be exempted from the obligation to wear the mask, he does not give up his idea and continues to defend the new law on protection against infections by stating:
« If vaccines that protect against infections become available in the fall, they should also provide a benefit to those vaccinated. You can’t give up the mask indoors in autumn. For people recently vaccinated, an exception would be justifiable. »
3) If vaccines protecting against infection are available in the fall, they should also be of benefit to those who have been vaccinated. You can not do without a mask in the interior in the fall. An exception would be justifiable for the newly vaccinated.
— Professor Karl Lauterbach (@Karl_Lauterbach) August 9, 2022
This exception, which he sees as an opportunity and an incentive to get vaccinated, worries restaurateurs, movie theater owners and other owners of establishments that receive the public. Everyone is alarmed at the idea of having to check how many times a visitor has been vaccinated and whether or not he should wear a mask.
“To say that ‘recently vaccinated’ cannot be checked is also wrong. On the CWA (Corona-Warn-App) application, another certificate color is provided. Easier than before 2 G+,” said Karl Lauterbach on Twitter.
However, the Minister of Health reserves the right to reconsider this exceptional regime if too many people use it. The obligation for everyone to wear a mask inside would then quickly return and there would be an end to this ephemeral privilege granted to “recently vaccinated”.
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The color system for the QR code has existed in China for more than two years. The implementation of the “Alipay Health Code” application in March 2020 made it possible to classify Chinese citizens by color, according to their supposed dangerousness. The colors of the health QR code are established from the level of risk determined by an algorithm via the data collected. Depending on their state of health, people have different rights. Thus, a green code allows free movement, yellow and red mean up to two weeks of quarantine and the obligation to carry out screening tests, etc.
In the meantime, the Minister of Health has contracted the coronavirus. ” Despite four vaccines and Paxlovid, I had stronger symptoms than expected […] Covid-19 is no small thing said Karl Lauterbach. According to him, his condition is slowly improving and he is on the road to recovery.
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