Thuringia: Fine for health workers without a Covid vaccination

The general corona vaccination has failed in the Bundestag for the time being.

Thuringia: Fine for health workers without a Covid vaccination

The general corona vaccination has failed in the Bundestag for the time being. Only healthcare workers are required to be vaccinated, the regulation applies until the end of the year.

Erfurt (dpa/th) - Thuringia is relatively lenient financially for employees in the health sector who are not vaccinated against Covid-19. Instead of up to 2,500 euros, as provided for in infection protection, the fines should be between 150 and 250 euros, said a ministry spokeswoman on request. This orientation framework was communicated to the health authorities. Employees in nursing homes, clinics, medical practices, rescue and hospice services, for example, are threatened with a fine if they do not present the health authorities’ request for proof of vaccination or immunity after recovering from the illness. In the last step, they have to fear work bans.

According to the ministry, at the end of May there were almost 11,000 unvaccinated people in the areas affected by the mandatory vaccination since mid-March - with around 60,000 employees in hospitals and care facilities alone. At the end of April, there was still talk of around 8,700 unvaccinated people in the facilities, but the recovered status has now expired for a number of employees.

In Thuringia, unvaccinated employees and their employers should be heard until around the beginning of August. It is also assessed what specific health risk emanates from the individual unvaccinated person at work and whether a ban on work endangers care in the respective facilities.

How many fine and hearing procedures are already running is unclear. The Ministry has no overview of this. A spokeswoman said that nobody in the workers' welfare facilities had received a fine. There are no hearings yet. Nothing was known about this from the German Red Cross and the Association of Private Care Providers either.

According to the district office, ten hearing procedures are underway in the Weimarer Land district, but no fine procedures. The health department of the Saale-Orla district has not yet sent any fine notices, nor have any hearing procedures started. "In general, it is our aim to be extremely thorough in this context, as we see a risk of legal disputes," said a spokesman.