Germany announced that all adults will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine from June

The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that all adults in Germany will be able to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in early June if they wish, eliminating the priority rules applied so far. The administration has not specified when it will end the specific requirements to receive the inoculant.

Some of the 16 states that make up the European country have already relaxed the agreed order – four already allow vaccines with AstraZeneca to all age groups – But the federal government wants everyone to act equally.

Germany will also allow people who have been fully vaccinated or who have recovered from the disease, shopping and visiting hairdressers without the need for negative testsMerkel said Monday after speaking with regional leaders.

Armin Laschet, CDU leader and candidate to succeed Merkel as chancellor, said citizens vaccinated should be treated in everyday life as if they had a permanent negative test result. Laschet pointed to recent findings that those vaccinated and recovering were less contagious than those who tested negative.

The German government was under pressure to come up with a plan detailing the path to greater normalcy after A criticized lockdown law will come into effect this weekend, establishing tighter curfews and restrictions across much of the country..

“We need a timetable to return to normal life, but it must be a plan which should not be revoked after a few days,” Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Federal government should be able to outline “clear and courageous opening milestones” for the boreal summer at the end of May, allowing restaurants to adjust their reopening plans and citizens to plan their vacations, he said.

Germany is currently grappling with a stubborn ‘third wave’ of COVID-19 and remains in partial quarantine, with tighter restrictions such as nightly curfews at major contagion points.

The national incidence rate in seven days per 100,000 inhabitants It rose again on Monday and is above a level that has caused the closure of shops, schools, restaurants and cultural venues across much of the country..

Germany has a total of more than 3.3 million positive cases and 81,786 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University website, which provides real-time health statistics. The deaths, however, are significantly lower than those recorded in the second wave which took place between December 2020 and February this year, which recorded nearly 1,250 deaths in one day.

Merkel drafted the changes after some of the 16 federal states refused to implement more stringent measures. The new law allows the government to impose curfews between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in districts where cases exceed 100 per 100,000 population for three consecutive days. The rules also include stricter limits on private gatherings and shopping..

Schools will have to close and resume online classes if cases reach 165 per 100,000 population for three consecutive days.

The vaccination campaign in Germany is progressing slowly, but it has accelerated since the beginning of April. Over the past week, the country has inoculated over 0.5 percent of its population each day and has managed to deliver at least one dose to over 23 percent of its population.

KEEP READING: