The federal states want to offer at least 27 million citizens vaccinated against the coronavirus a booster by the end of the year.

This was communicated after deliberations by the federal and state governments in Berlin.

The Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of a "great effort".

The federal and state governments also decided that in future, based on a hospitalization rate, stricter corona measures should take effect.

The model provides for three levels: If the rate in a country is 3, access to restaurants and events is only possible for convalescent and vaccinated people (2-G rule). In the next step, from the hospitalization index of 6, a rapid antigen test is also required for vaccinated and convalescent patients (2G +). From a value of 9, contact restrictions are provided. The Robert Koch Institute put the nationwide hospitalization rate on Thursday at 5.3.

The federal states have asked the federal government to oblige employees in hospitals and nursing homes to have a corona vaccination. The obligation should apply to contact with vulnerable people, as the chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference Hendrik Wüst (CDU) said on Thursday following the deliberations of the federal and state governments. In future, all employees in old people's and nursing homes will have to test daily. This also applies to facilities for the disabled and integration assistance. Compliance with the corona protection rules should be checked more closely in order to prevent abuse.

The Bundestag had previously passed an amendment to the Infection Protection Act with the votes of the traffic light parties. Against the will of the Union parliamentary group, the epidemic situation of national scope as the legal basis for far-reaching measures against the spread of the coronavirus will not be extended beyond November 25th. This Friday, the Federal Council has to decide on the law. By the next Prime Minister's Conference on December 9th, all measures of the new Infection Protection Act are to be evaluated in order to be able to make improvements quickly. 688 MPs took part in the roll-call vote. 398 parliamentarians voted for the new regulation, 254 were against. There were 36 abstentions.

The three traffic light parties, the SPD, Greens and FDP, want to end the epidemic situation of national importance, but still want to give the countries the opportunity to take measures against the pandemic. In this way, further contacts can be restricted and, for example, cultural and leisure events as well as sporting events can be prohibited and conditions for meetings can be imposed. Particularly drastic measures such as exit restrictions, travel bans and the closure of schools and daycare centers, but also restaurants and shops, will no longer be available to the federal states in the future. The catalog is expanded to include a legal basis for 2-G and 3-G concepts.

In a heated debate, members of the Union parliamentary group criticized the draft law as inadequate. The countries would be "knocked out of their hands", argued Thorsten Frei, deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group. The CSU politician Stephan Stracke spoke of a “wrong signal to the population”. The Union pleaded for the epidemic situation to be extended once again to national scope. Sabine Dittmar, health politician of the SPD, described these guidelines as "threadbare and transparent".

The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) wants to significantly expand its recommendation for booster vaccinations.

"With immediate effect, the STIKO recommends the Covid-19 booster vaccination for all people aged 18 and over," she said.

A more flexible handling of the time interval is also planned: “The booster vaccinations should generally be given at an interval of six months from the last vaccine dose of the basic vaccination.

Shortening the vaccination interval to five months can be considered in individual cases or if there is sufficient capacity, ”it said.