March 16 should actually be a turning point in German hospitals, in old people's homes and in outpatient care services.

From next Wednesday, patients and residents should only have contact with staff who are particularly well protected against the corona virus - the so-called facility-related vaccination requirement, decided in December by the traffic light coalition in the Bundestag, should ensure this.

Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in Politics.

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Britta Beeger

Editor in Business.

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But it is now clear that the regulation is only likely to have a much larger impact later.

Employees who have not been vaccinated are allowed to continue working despite the obligation to be vaccinated.

“From March 16, there will not be immediate bans on entry or employment for employees in the facilities.

That is absolutely clear,” says Johannes Nießen.

He not only heads the largest health authority in Germany in Cologne, but also speaks for all 378 health authorities in Germany as the head of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service.

The health authorities are responsible for implementing the institution-related vaccination requirement.

A survey by the FAZ in the federal states shows that unvaccinated employees should only expect the consequences in a few weeks - the deadlines often differ.

Hesse, for example, like many other states, is gradually implementing compulsory vaccination.

The facilities there have until the end of March to report unvaccinated employees to the responsible health department.

After that, the authorities ask people to submit proof of vaccination or recovery;

they have another four weeks to do so.

Large differences in the federal states

After that, the health department can impose a fine and “invite you to a vaccination consultation”, as a spokesman for the Ministry of Health says.

And only then can the office impose a ban on activities for the unvaccinated person - but this should again take effect no earlier than six weeks after the decision.

At least twelve weeks pass before the protection of patients and residents is enforced.

In other countries, for example in Hamburg, the institutions have to inform the authorities about unvaccinated employees by Wednesday.

The office contacts them within two weeks and then sets a four-week deadline for submitting the required documents – only then can entry bans be issued.

"The reporting of the facility to the health department has no direct consequences for the reported persons, as they are first heard," says a spokeswoman for the Hamburg social authority.

"By the time all unvaccinated employees have been heard, we will certainly be in the summer," says the chairman of the Medical Association, Johannes Nießen.

"The procedure in the individual federal states is not as uniform as we would have liked."

City Day: "Remote from practice"

The municipalities clearly criticize the implementation.

Helmut Dedy, Chief Executive of the German Association of Cities, describes the application of the law as "unpractical".

"Instead of relieving the local health authorities with very clear decisions, the federal government has created a lot of bureaucracy and thus additional work," says Dedy.

"We are expecting significantly more than half a million reports nationwide of people who lack proof of vaccination." Among them are caretakers, kitchen and cleaning staff.

The federal states should make more staff available to the municipalities, Dedy demands.

On the other hand, the requirements of the federal states for the implementation of compulsory vaccination meet with the supporters of old people's and nursing homes with approval.

It is "a clever, graduated procedure," says Bernd Meurer, President of the Federal Association of Private Providers of Social Services (BPA), which, according to its own statements, counts every third care facility in Germany among its members.

Diakonie President Ulrich Lilie also emphasizes that he supports facility-related compulsory vaccination as an intermediate step to general compulsory vaccination.

It must now be implemented “with a sense of proportion”.

The aim must be to enable duty rostering even with non-vaccinated employees “and to maintain professional care in the facilities”.