In view of the increasing number of infections, calls for free rapid tests are getting louder. The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) suggests free tests only for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. "The high numbers of infections among unvaccinated people lead to more and more breakthroughs among those who have been vaccinated," said Wüst of "Bild am Sonntag". Free rapid tests for vaccinated and convalescents would make it easier for people with little money to protect themselves and others without taking away the incentive to immunize the unvaccinated.
The German Medical Association, on the other hand, called for a quick return to free rapid tests for the entire population.
The end of the assumption of costs for so-called citizen tests did not motivate those unwilling to be vaccinated, President Klaus Reinhardt told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The federal and state governments should therefore have the courage to correct this wrong decision quickly and consistently.
"Don't start with the third most important"
Like the Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt before, the FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing called for the reintroduction of free rapid tests by trained staff. The end of the free citizen tests about a month ago "was obviously a mistake," he told the "Handelsblatt". On October 11, the federal government stopped funding rapid tests, and many test stations were closed.
The Baden-Württemberg Minister of Health Manfred Lucha (Greens) reacted cautiously to Wüst's suggestion to introduce free corona tests only for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. “Vaccination is the top priority,” Lucha told the FAZ. The relationship between increased vaccination commitment and safeguarding through testing must be precisely coordinated. "We shouldn't start with the third most important," said Lucha. "If we want to make progress in the containment of the fourth wave, we must force booster vaccinations for the vulnerable groups and at the same time introduce compulsory vaccinations for nurses, teachers and police officers very quickly." Experience in France has shown, that this would not lead to a dramatic worsening of the nursing care emergency.Last week, the majority of the health ministers of the federal states spoke out against compulsory vaccination. Lucha believes that the proposal by the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) that the Ethics Council should deal with a general vaccination requirement is in principle worth considering and correct.