Germany steps closer to making Covid vaccines mandatory, imposes strict curbs on unvaccinated

German lawmakers have implemented new curbs for the unvaccinated and made plans to vote on making Covid vaccines mandatory.

National and regional leaders agreed on Thursday to ban Germany’s unvaccinated population from all non-essential businesses, such as bars, restaurants and movie theaters in a bid to encourage vaccine uptake.

Additional measures are also being introduced in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, including limits on live sports spectators, additional tests for the vaccinated and mask mandates in schools.

Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows that 68.4% of the German population is fully vaccinated, slightly above the EU-wide vaccination rate of 66%.