Vaccinated rights: If the yellow vaccination certificate is not sufficient

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Erwin Schneider will take a close look at what the federal and state governments discussed at the vaccination summit on Monday afternoon.

Because in the end, local politicians like the CSU district administrator of the Altötting district have to implement what was decided at the prime ministerial conferences.

Conversely, the conference, in which Schneider was at almost the same time as the Berlin vaccination summit in Altötting, should not be any less exciting for the regional leaders and the Chancellor.

Because there was working on the next level of the digital vaccination pass.

Without it, it will be difficult to keep track of the vaccination campaign.

And it is even more difficult to ensure that those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered can exercise their basic rights again.

This is exactly what is currently being hotly debated.

The district administrator was not only the first and almost only local politician to introduce a digital vaccination card in his district.

He also demonstrated to the representatives of the IT group IBM and the digital start-up Ubrich on site how his regional vaccination certificate works and how it is received.

Because the two companies are working on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health on the digital version for all of Germany.

A sample vaccination card from Altötting with the English sample name John Doe

Source: picture alliance / dpa / district office

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“Here in the district, around 90 percent of those who are second vaccinated have our digital vaccination certificate.

People are smarter than politicians and know that vaccinated and convalescent people must soon be able to fully exercise their basic rights again, and they want to be prepared for that, ”says Schneider.

“The day when that is possible is coming.

And today we're already close, ”he adds with a view to the vaccination summit.

The district administrator could be wrong.

Because whether vaccinated and convalescent people can go shopping again and attend cultural events, do sports, meet and briefly take advantage of their personal freedoms, depends largely on whether the relevant evidence can be checked in everyday life.

There are two ways to do this - and both have a catch.

Variant one would be a vaccination certificate, as a document from the vaccination center or doctor or in the form of the yellow vaccination book.

Pubs and event organizers may accept this, but authorities and control staff at airports and airlines will certainly not.

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“The yellow vaccination book can only be used to a limited extent.

It's too easy to fake.

In sensitive areas, for example on international flights, it will not be enough to show the yellow vaccination book, ”says Schneider.

The vaccination book is available as a blank document for a few euros on the Internet, and there are also counterfeiters who provide it with allegedly genuine vaccination certificates.

The average price for this is around 150 euros.

Digital vaccination card in Germany at the end of June at the earliest

Proof on paper is therefore not an option in the long term, the digital vaccination certificate is more secure. The EU Commission is currently working on this for the entire internal market and, in parallel, the governments of some member states, including Germany. But the problem is that the digital proof of vaccination in Germany will not come until the end of June at the earliest - if everything is going perfectly. And for the EU variant, the “digital infrastructure will first be set up from summer so that the authenticity of the digital green certificates can be checked more easily”.

And even if this is Germany and EU-wide, only part of the vaccinated or convalescent would be recorded.

Because all those who have already been immunized or have recovered would have to register retrospectively.

And since there is no central vaccination register in Germany for data protection reasons, unlike in other countries, it will take a long time, probably months, until the digital vaccination certificate is up to date.

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"As the FDP parliamentary group, we already called for the introduction of a digital vaccination pass in 2019.

If the federal government had implemented one in the meantime, we would not have to work on a special solution at the moment, ”says the FDP parliamentary group vice-president in the Bundestag, Stephan Thomae, WELT.

“Until the introduction of the digital vaccination certificate, there will be no unbureaucratic and practical alternative to the analog, forgery-prone yellow vaccination book.

It is all the more important that the federal government massively accelerates the development of the digital vaccination certificate so that it can actually be introduced in the third quarter at the latest.

But there are considerable doubts about this. "

Should Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) assert himself with the “freedom for vaccinated people” that he calls for, those affected will probably have to prove their status in the coming months in the form of certificates in paper form.

Corona vaccinated people could get more freedom back

For corona vaccinated and convalescents, easing is apparently getting closer.

The federal government wants to propose exceptions to the restrictions for these groups of people.

Source: WELT / Jana Wochnik

If you stay within the national borders and it is only a matter of sitting in the outside area of ​​a pub, that is certainly possible.

But neither the regulatory authorities nor the police think much of not having to check forgery-proof paper evidence - should that be necessary.

Because if one part of the population can exercise more freedom in everyday life than another, this will almost certainly lead to tension - and attempts to circumvent the restrictions.

"The municipalities will not scramble to control it," says the chief executive of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB), Gerd Landsberg. “More than random samples will not be possible. A digital variant now has to come very quickly. First of all, a QR code that you receive with the second vaccination and that certifies this would be sufficient, ”suggests Landsberg.

The police also have reservations about evidence on paper and vaccination books.

"The controls become more patchy if the police now also have to check vaccination certificates in certain cases," says Rainer Wendt, Federal Chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG).

“If vaccinated or healthy people are allowed to do more than the rest of the population, another will be created in addition to the existing exceptions.

That can no longer be controlled.

Such a policy works in the Cloud Cuckoo Land, but not in the everyday life of our colleagues. "

District Administrator Schneider has so far issued 8,000 of his digital vaccination cards.

People fought over it, he says.

Although the owners of the card with the white and blue lettering are not allowed to do more than unvaccinated.