Germany to ban unvaccinated from bars and stores

Germany is set to ban unvaccinated people from bars and stores, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel announced.

Unvaccinated people are going to be barred from a lot of public and private venues as the country is set to impose vaccine passports.

Merkel says that the situation is very serious and the measures will help Germany combat the rising COVID cases.

She called the move an act of “national solidarity.” The nationwide mandates are set to be imposed from February 2022 onwards, after it has been brought to the Parliament.

Unvaccinated people may also be barred from meeting more than two people from other houses.

This is a sudden change in stance from Merkel, who has been against forceful vaccinations enforced by the government.

She has now said that she’d support the restrictions if she was in Parliament today. In the past, Merkel had been adamant that the government’s responsibility was to only try and convince the citizens, not force them.

She now fears that the skyrocketing COVID cases in Germany are going to overburden the German healthcare system.

Her successor hasn’t openly supported the move, but has said to bring it in Parliament for a vote and said that the situation is very difficult, and it is important to have the unvaccinated get the shots to stop the spread of COVID.

Germany is also anticipating a significant rise initiated by the Omicron variant. The measures are expected to help curb the spread of the variant if it’s accepted by the Parliament in a bipartisan way.