German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said that England’s coronavirus rules were an “unethical bet” during a talk show Monday night.
The Social Democrat health chief is known for his tough approach to the pandemic, including a pro-mandatory vaccination position. After advocating for stricter rules in the hospitality sector last Friday and facing rapidly increasing case numbers, Lauterbach warned against copying England’s pandemic response.
“From my point of view, it’s an unethical bet,” he said, of England’s laissez-faire approach to the Omicron wave of coronavirus.
That strategy is not available to the German government, Lauterbach said, as fewer elderly people are vaccinated in Germany than in the U.K. “In that respect, such an experiment would not be sustainable in our country at all,” he said. “I would never recommend a strategy like the one in England.”
To improve the country’s vaccination rate, Germany is currently debating whether coronavirus vaccination should be made compulsory.
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