It has been eight months, almost to the day, that Health Minister Jens Spahn tested positive for Corona.

Today he is considered recovered - it is all the more remarkable how he deals with people who have had a corona infection.

That’s 3.7 million people in Germany, and it’s not easy for them.

The Standing Vaccination Commission recommends that those who have recovered receive an injection six months after their infection, but only one.

That’s how it’s often done.

Patrick Bernau

Responsible editor for economics and "Money & More" of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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    But those who have recovered do not get their freedoms so easily with this one vaccination.

    As a convalescent one escapes corona tests and contact restrictions only six months after the infection - afterwards the vaccination has to be proven.

    It's not easy.

    The mobile phone apps, for example, cannot handle this situation at all.

    The Ministry of Health announced that they should not be able to save their vaccination status in the apps until the end of June - the other European countries that required two vaccinations for those who have recovered are also to blame.

    This also means that anyone who has recovered and wants to travel abroad with a vaccination may still have a difficult time there.

    And the Ministry of Health itself is not making things any easier.

    The wording of the regulation, which is supposed to give vaccinated people back their freedoms, is unclear, with the result that those who have recovered with a vaccination may not be exempted.

    Unclear wording: how many vaccinations do convalescents need?

    The problem lies in the so-called "Covid-19 Protective Measures Exceptions Ordinance" with the beautiful abbreviation "SchAusnahmV", which suggests that you can lose track of the sheer bureaucracy. The ordinance expressly provides that the vaccination “consists of a single dose of vaccine given to a recovered person” - so far this is still in line with the recommendations of the Standing Vaccination Commission. But then the regulation also defines who is considered to be a recovered person, and it is required that "the underlying test (...) Was not more than six months ago".

    Strictly speaking, this means that people who have recovered from a vaccination can only be free within the first six months after infection - at a time when they have not yet been vaccinated and when those who have recovered have their freedom. When the six months are over, however, they need a second vaccination, but according to the guidelines of the Standing Vaccination Commission, they will not get it for the time being.

    From the federal government it is said that it was not meant that way.

    Those who have recovered should be free with a vaccination.

    Several lawyers contacted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung interpret the wording differently.

    "It is possible that the rule is meant that those who have recovered only need one vaccination after six months - but that doesn't count because the definition of those who have recovered is different," says Stephan Rixen

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    for example

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    who teaches public law and health law at the University of Bayreuth and is a member of the German Ethics Council.

    "There is definitely a need for clarification."

    The Greens want to investigate the question

    The Ministry of Health itself refers to the reasons for the law and other Corona ordinances, from which the will of the legislature is clearly evident.

    A website of the Ministry of Justice also says that one vaccination is sufficient.

    However, the wording of the regulation is still the same.

    Clarity has not even come from the Federal Constitutional Court: A constitutional complaint had been filed there, which complained, among other things, of this wording of the regulation, according to which two vaccinations are required even after surviving corona infection.

    On Friday, however, the court announced that it would not make a decision on the complaint because the person concerned could enjoy his freedoms anyway thanks to the low incidences.

    The Greens have announced that they will pursue the issue politically.

    "In addition, it has to be scientifically evaluated how long there is sufficient immunity and what that means for vaccination protection and the required amount of vaccination doses," says Bundestag member Kordula Schulz-Asche.

    The problem also affects Health Minister Spahn himself. So far, he has only had one vaccination: on May 14, he had his family doctor AstraZeneca inject him.

    A spokesman said at the time that a second vaccination was not necessary for Spahn as a convalescent.