RTSat, 16 Oct 2021 02:15 UTC
© Reuters / Annegret HilseFILE PHOTO: A sign with Covid-19 distancing rules is seen at a retail shop in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2020.
The German state of Hesse has become the first to allow businesses to deny the unvaccinated access even to basic necessities, setting a troubling precedent as its neighbors wrestle with protests against vaccination mandates.
Hessian supermarkets have been granted permission to deny the unvaccinated the right to buy food and other essentials, the state chancellery confirmed to German magazine
BILD on Friday. Under the new policy,
stores can decide whether to implement the '2G rule', which means allowing entry only to the vaccinated and recovered ('geimpft' and 'genesen' in German) or the more lax '3G rule', encompassing those who have tested negative for the virus (getestet).
Minister-President Volker Bouffier somewhat bafflingly told BILD he hoped the new rule wouldn't be widely implemented, explaining: "We expect that this option will only be used on some days and that businesses which cater to everyday needs will not make use of it.""The greatest protection is provided by vaccination. And still it is uncomplicated, unbureaucratic and free to get," he
boasted, noting that masking and social distancing requirements would remain in place for businesses that failed to adopt the more exclusionary 2G Rule. In exchange for admitting only vaccinated or recovered people,
2G businesses are allowed to forgo social distancing and mask mandates - perhaps a tempting tradeoff after 18 months of burdensome face coverings.
In addition to the new 2G option,
hospital staff who remain unvaccinated must be tested for Covid-19 twice a week, and students are still required to mask up while seated in class.
While at least
eight other German states have opened up the 2G option for certain businesses like bars, restaurants, gyms, cinemas and brothels, Hesse is the first to allow the rule at grocery stores and other retail shops.
Though other European nations like Italy and France have implemented strict vaccine requirements forbidding the unvaxxed from working (Italy) or eating at cafes (France),
most leaders have stopped short of directly mandating jabs for their citizens. However, concerns about vaccine passports have sent hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to protest, even while countries like the US begin to reopen for travel - to the vaccinated only, of course.
Comment: It's not just in Germany that this mixed messaging over vaccine mandates has been noted; over in the US, Boeing announced its employees must be vaccinated,
but that it would
allow religious and medical exemptions; whilst over in Australia - where some areas have enforced some of the draconian restrictions yet - the PM announced that the government would
protect businesses that chose not to enforce vaccine passports (see video below).
At the same time, those countries and regions that are going full Nazi with the vaccine mandates are noticing significant pushback:
strikes at Italy's ports; massive, and growing, protests throughout Europe; one report from the US stated that a factory waved the mandate when employees walked out en masse in protest; Southwest Airlines in the US were
caught lying about their 1000+ flight cancellations, that were in fact not due to 'bad weather', since other airlines flew without issue, but were more likely because of a company 'sick out' in protest against the mandate.
So, it's not yet clear just what's causing this flip flopping on the mandates, but with the deadlines set by numerous countries for the mandates already passed or coming up soon, it's likely more telling details will emerge.
We pro body, medical decision, self sovereigns (i.e., SOTTypes) are getting ready. Have to!
Hang tough all!
R.C.