As a rule, North Rhine-Westphalia will soon no longer pay compensation to unvaccinated people for loss of earnings in quarantine. According to the Federal Infection Protection Act, the state will expire the regulation for unvaccinated people on October 11, the Ministry of Health announced in Düsseldorf on Friday. However, people who could not be vaccinated against corona for health reasons would still have a claim. This also applies to those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated who have to be in quarantine due to so-called vaccination breakthroughs or new illnesses.
NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) had already announced this step in the state parliament on Thursday and mentioned the term of continued payment of wages. In the event of an officially ordered quarantine, employees are entitled to compensation under the Infection Protection Act. In the law, however, it is clear that if a quarantine can be avoided by vaccination, for example, there is no entitlement, explained Laumann. In his opinion, the quarantine could not remain a national task in the long term.
According to the ministry, around 120 million euros have so far been spent in North Rhine-Westphalia for compensation for loss of earnings in connection with an officially ordered quarantine. This is well above the payments from other federal states. Laumann justified the change of course on Friday with the fact that a nationwide vaccination offer was now available, so that the reason for the previous exemption no longer applies.