Covid: Germans will be ‘vaccinated, recovered or dead’ by end of winter, says health minister https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...d-dead-covid19-winter-jens-spahn-b967555.html The German health minister has issued his most alarming warning yet urging more people to get jabbed as the country tries to avoid another lockdown. Jens Spahn said the rapid rise in cases means all unvaccinated people in Germany will have caught Covid-19 by the end of the winter and some of those will die. “By the end of this winter pretty much everyone in Germany... will have been vaccinated, recovered or died,” he said blaming the “highly contagious Delta variant.” Official figures showed more than 30,000 newly confirmed cases in Germany over the past 24 hours, an increase of about 50 per cent compared to last week. Hospitals have warned that ICU capacities are nearly exhausted, with some patients having to be transferred to clinics miles away. Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Mr Spahn said that only social distancing and political resolve can pull Europe’s largest economy away from a fourth wave. The acting minister urged Germans to get vaccinated, including with booster shots if their first round of inoculation occurred more than six months ago, to reduce the risk of serious illness. While acknowledging those who have interpreted his view as cynical, he insisted: “it’s true.” He continued: “With the highly contagious Delta variant this is very, very likely and that’s why we are recommending vaccination so urgently.” Vaccination uptake remains considerably low, with just 68 per cent of the population fully protected. Coronavirus restrictions might be reintroduced amid the sharp rise in infections. The country expects the European Union to approve vaccines against Covid-19 for children aged five to 11 at the end of the week. School-age children have among the highest infection rates in the country. The EU will begin shipping vaccines adjusted for younger children on December 20, with Germany initially getting 2.4 million doses, Mr Spahn confirmed.
Seeing the success of Austria, German leaders are finalizing plans to lock down the plague rats. German Leaders Plan Crackdown On Unjabbed To Tackle Covid Surge https://www.ibtimes.com/german-leaders-plan-crackdown-unjabbed-tackle-covid-surge-3349873 German leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel and her designated successor Olaf Scholz are expected to approve a de-facto "lockdown for the unvaccinated" on Thursday to combat surging Covid cases. Merkel, Scholz and the leaders of Germany's 16 states tightened Covid restrictions just two weeks ago, but are in talks again to impose even tougher measures amid a raging fourth wave of the virus. According to a draft agreement seen by AFP, the plans include a blanket ban on entering bars, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and other leisure facilities for anyone who has not been vaccinated or recovered from Covid -- a system known as 2G in Germany. The unvaccinated would also be banned from Christmas markets and non-essential shops, as well as be hit by contact restrictions limiting the number of people they can socialise with. The agreement also calls for new restrictions on large gatherings, which would affect events such as Bundesliga football matches, and the closure of nightclubs in areas with a weekly incidence rate above 350 infections per 100,000 people. Health Minister Jens Spahn, in a caretaker role ahead of the planned swearing in of a new government next week, told the ZDF broadcaster that Germany needed "a lockdown, so to speak, for the unvaccinated". Infections have smashed German records in recent weeks and hospitals are sounding the alarm, with many over capacity and forced to dispatch patients elsewhere in the country for treatment. Though Germany's seven-day incidence rate has fallen slightly this week, it still stood at 439.2 on Thursday, with 73,209 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. "From the point of view of intensive and emergency medicine, the pandemic situation has never been as threatening and serious as it is today," the DIVI intensive care association warned on Wednesday, calling for a drastic tightening of restrictions. Several hard-hit German regions have already cancelled Christmas markets and barred the unvaccinated from public spaces like gyms and leisure facilities to slow the pandemic spread. But critics say the patchwork of rules is confusing, and Thursday's emergency talks are aimed at coming up with nationwide rules. The draft agreement also expresses support for compulsory vaccination in Germany, suggesting February as a possible start date. Scholz said earlier this week that he wants parliament to vote on the matter before the end of the year. "Too many people have not got vaccinated," Scholz told Bild television. Making jabs compulsory is justified "to protect us all", he said. Many experts have partly blamed Germany's fourth wave on its relatively low vaccination rate of around 68 percent, compared to fellow EU countries such as Spain at 79 percent and Portugal at 86 percent. Merkel's outgoing government had always ruled out mandatory vaccination, but the measure is now backed by politicians from across the spectrum. Merkel's spokeswoman on Wednesday said Germany was "in a dramatic situation in the pandemic where new possibilities have to be thought about". Germany already announced plans earlier this month to require health workers and soldiers to get inoculated against Covid-19. Expanding that to the general public would see the country follow the example of neighbouring Austria, which is planning mandatory vaccinations from February. Greece has announced mandatory jabs for over 60s, with unvaccinated people facing fines if they don't comply. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday it was time for the bloc to "think about mandatory vaccination" against Covid, though she also stressed it was up to individual states to make the decision. "My personal position is... I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now," she said. Tags: UNVACCINATEDLOCKDOWN
More countries lockdown the unvaccinated. Austria has demonstrated the policy is highly successful and effective. Covid-19: Switzerland tightens restrictions for the unvaccinated Switzerland will allow only vaccinated people, or those who have recently recovered from a Covid-19 infection, access to indoor public areas, such as restaurants, bars, cultural and sports facilities. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politi...ns-restrictions-for-the-unvaccinated/47201498 The new restrictions on public gatherings will apply from Monday, December 20, in a bid to curb rising infections and ease the burden on hospitals. The measures will stay in place initially until January 24 next year. Health Minister Alain Berset presented the new rules on Friday, which also stated that everyone must provide a negative Covid-19 test in areas where masks cannot be worn, and seating cannot be provided. Only people who have been vaccinated or had a booster jab within the last four months, or are aged under 16, are exempt from this testing requirement. “The new rule reduces the risk of unimmunised people becoming infected as they are also more likely to pass on the virus and become seriously ill,” read a government statementExternal link. Switzerland recorded 9,941 new infections on Friday with 1,627 hospitalisations and 294 patients in intensive care. This last figure is the most concerning for the government, which fears that hospital intensive care units may be over-run as the new Omicron variant spreads. Hospitals are also recommended to postpone non-urgent medical procedures. Home office order From Monday, the government will insist that people work from home unless it is unavoidable to go to the workplace. Schools will remain open, but it will be compulsory for secondary school pupils to wear masks. A maximum of 30 people aged over 16 can attend indoor private meetings – reduced to 10 people if the gathering includes non-vaccinated people who have not recently recovered from an infection. Outdoor gatherings are restricted to 300 people. The government said it will cover the costs for tests for Covid certificate purposes and for people displaying symptoms of coronavirus infection. Entry restrictions have been slightly eased for travellers entering Switzerland. Visitors can now choose between a quick test within 24 hours of arrival or a PCR test within 72 hours. From December 20, people who are either vaccinated or recently recovered from infection no longer have to take another test within four to seven days of entering the country. Switzerland has already ordered seven million extra vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech for early next year and has resolved to double this number so that 34 million doses will be available by the end of 2022. Just over two-thirds of the population is fully vaccinated, while 16.3% have so far received a booster jab. ==================================================== Let's take a look at cases in Austria... Within a week of locking down the unvaccinated the Covid cases went into a steep decline. Tags: COVIDLOCKDOWNS LOCKDOWNUNVACCINATED
Sarcasm below... You sure it was not Ivermectin that caused the declines in the Covid numbers ??? wrbtrader
A majority of people agree with him... Ryanair CEO Thinks ‘Idiot’ Anti-Vaxxers Shouldn’t Be Allowed on Flights https://www.thedailybeast.com/ryana...t-anti-vaxxers-shouldnt-be-allowed-on-flights Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has said “idiot” anti-vaxxers shouldn’t be allowed to visit hospitals, ride subways, shop for groceries, and certainly shouldn’t be allowed to fly in airplanes, The Telegraph reports. “I don’t think that governments should permit those people who are not vaccinated to go and infect everybody else,” he was quoted as saying, adding that authorities should “make life difficult” for those who refuse the jab. “If you personally object to vaccination . . . we respect your right to be an idiot.” The broadside comes as cities and countries around the world reinstate lockdown orders as COVID-19 cases surge amid the rise of the Omicron variant. The CEO also noted that the lockdowns pose a startling threat to the travel industry, saying he expects the outbreak to deter 1 million customers in December alone. Read it at The Telegraph
France is not going to put up with any more bullshiat from anti-vaxxers. Macron says he wants to 'piss off' the non-vaccinated https://www.reuters.com/markets/rat...-19-curbs-ahead-wednesday-meeting-2022-01-04/ French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he wanted to "piss off" the non-vaccinated, in a slangy, cutting remark that prompted howls of condemnation from opposition rivals less than 4 months before the next presidential election. "The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so, we're going to continue doing so, until the end. That's the strategy," Macron told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview published late on Tuesday. France last year put in place a health pass that prevents people without a PCR test or proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, cafes and other venues. The government wants to turn it into a vaccine passport that means only the vaccinated can have a health pass. "I won't send (the unvaccinated) to prison, I won't vaccinate by force. So we need to tell them, from Jan. 15, you won't be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you won't be able to down one, won't be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema..." The expression "emmerder", from "merde" (shit), that can also be translated as "to get on their nerves", is considered "very informal" by French dictionary Larousse and prompted immediate criticism by rivals on social media. Macron has been criticised in the past for off-the-cuff remarks which many French people said came across as arrogant, cutting or scornful. He has later expressed contrition on several occasions. "A president shouldn't say that," far right leader Marine Le Pen said on Twitter. "Emmanuel Macron is unworthy of his office." In the detailed interview, Macron's first in the new year, the president also said he had a good mind to run for re-election in April, but did not explicitly announce his intention to run. "I would like to do it," Macron said. As the clear favourite in the polls, Macron has not yet officially said he was running, although his lieutenants are already preparing a campaign.
‘Unwelcome just about everywhere’: Europe tightens the screws on the unvaccinated https://www.latimes.com/world-natio...increases-pressure-unvaccinated-omicron-rages PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is known as a canny politician who carefully calibrates his public statements. So when he used some pungent language this week to talk about how his government should treat those who choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, almost no one interpreted it as a mere slip of the tongue. Across Western Europe — which, like much of the world, is coping with the wildfire spread of Omicron, the highly contagious coronavirus variant— the vaccine-hesitant are coming under mounting official pressure to get inoculated, if they are able. And that is triggering an impassioned backlash. In one European country after another, public health restrictions are steadily tightening. Italy declared a vaccination mandate for those over age 50. The biggest party in Germany’s governing coalition says it will decide by the end of March whether to try to push through a universal vaccination mandate. Austria plans to enhance enforcement of existing measures banning the unvaccinated from many public venues. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to keep vaccinations voluntary, but on Thursday blasted what he called “mumbo-jumbo” spread on social media by anti-vaccine campaigners. As the pandemic drags into a third year, public frustration — and reluctance to use lockdowns as a tool to stem the virus’ spread — has brought a hard edge to the debate about how the world’s most advanced economies should conduct the next phase of the long and debilitating battle against a contagion that has killed more than 5.4 million people worldwide. In France, Omicron is shattering caseload records even though more than 90% of people over age 12 have received at least two doses of the vaccine. That helped galvanize France’s lower house on Thursday to approve stricter requirements for obtaining the pass needed to go to bars, restaurants, cinemas and other indoor public spaces. If France’s upper house approves the measure, which could happen next week, a negative coronavirus test will no longer be sufficient. To participate in most forms of public life — going to concerts and sporting events, boarding flights and taking long-distance trains — people will need to prove, starting Jan. 15, that they have received the full recommended doses of the vaccine. The French president, who is facing April elections, triggered an outcry Tuesday when, in a forum with readers of the newspaper Le Parisien, he used a crude barnyard-style epithet meant to convey his desire to cause the unvaccinated intense annoyance by further restricting their access to public life. Three days later, still under fire from critics who deemed his language to be unbefitting of a president, Macron was unrepentant. “I stand by my earlier comments,” he told reporters Friday. Some listeners were less bothered by the French leader’s use of a coarse expression than by his suggestion that the unvaccinated were derelict in their civic duty. “They are curtailing others’ freedom,” Macron said Friday of those who insist that remaining unvaccinated is a matter of personal liberty. “That I cannot accept.” That sentiment did not sit well with some of his compatriots, including lawyer Samir Kahoul, who gladly lined up for shots, but balked at the president questioning whether the unvaccinated were actually lesser citizens. “We are putting all the blame for the catastrophe on one faction of the population,” said Kahoul, who lives in the Paris suburbs. “Mandatory vaccines would be less hypocritical.” In Germany, many of those who have chosen to remain unvaccinated report feeling socially ostracized as a result. Some women who don’t want to be inoculated are even accelerating plans to start a family and go on government-paid maternity leave to avoid getting their shots to comply with employer demands. Dagmar Rossner, a gynecologist who practices outside Berlin, said several of her patients hoped that employer vaccination mandates would ease by the time they returned from a year of maternity leave, during which most of their wages would be paid by the state. “They wanted to start families at some point anyhow, but decided to start right now because of all the pressure,” she said. “Some of my unvaccinated patients say they feel unwelcome just about everywhere.” German authorities report a booming underground market for forged proof of vaccination by those seeking to get around the restrictions. In Berlin, police reported confiscating more than 1,100 such fake documents last year and pressing charges against those trying to use them. According to German news reports, criminal syndicates charge between 200 and 300 euros — around $225 to $340 — for the forgeries. Many Germans, mindful of their history under communist and Nazi rule, are also squeamish about a prospective national registry of the vaccinated, saying that runs counter to the country’s cherished data-privacy laws. And the anti-vaccination movement, while still relatively small, has grown in intensity, with protests sometimes boiling over into violence. On Monday, more than 35,000 people participated in protests that resulted in police being hit by bottles and firebombs. In a number of countries, as in the United States, the vaccine debate has become increasingly politicized. Macron’s vulgarity was sardonically echoed by extreme-right presidential hopeful Eric Zemmour, who told the radio network RTL on Thursday that better targets would be crime bosses and drug traffickers. That message fell on the receptive ears of voters such as Jean Galen, a property developer in southwestern France, who said he had received his initial two shots but declined a booster. He was angry and apprehensive about the idea of taking a fourth shot, something that some French officials have alluded to as a possibility. “Our societal life would be dependent on multiple doses,” he said. “It’s unacceptable.” Referring to the matrix barcode used in proof-of-vaccination apps, he said, “I don’t want to become a QR code.” Macron’s allies, however, insist that the president speaks for a fed-up majority. Prime Minister Jean Castex told BFM television on Thursday that Macron could “say out loud what many people think deep down,” describing getting vaccinated, for those who are able, as a “civic-minded” gesture. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal, addressing reporters Wednesday, took a similar tack. “Let’s speak frankly: Who is messing up whose life today?” he asked. “It is those who oppose vaccines.”
Actually, GWB and his ilk of fellow ET trolls are following the Chinese communist way. Do you remember they actually, locked people inside their homes and apartments in Wuhan by welding or padlocking the doors to make sure people did not get out? Bingo. And GWB talked about locking people up? I propose we lock up GWB, Cuddles4BS and ExGoper in an asylum and throw away the key. The US would be a better place immediately. Oh, their cells will all have cardboard cutouts of President Donald Trump to give them them all some inspiration.
Nobody likes plague rats... Vaccine Skeptics Slammed Across Europe as Omicron Rages https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...lammed-across-europe-as-omicron-variant-rages
The vast majority in France support strictly locking down the unvaccinated. They care little what these anti-vaxxer clowns think. Covid: Thousands protest in France against proposed new vaccine pass https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59925408 French authorities say more than 105,000 people have taken part in protests across the country against the introduction of a new coronavirus pass. A new draft law would in effect ban unvaccinated people from public life. Demonstrators in the capital, Paris, held placards emblazoned with phrases like "no to vaccine passes". Interior Ministry officials said 34 people were arrested and some 10 police officers were injured after the protests turned violent in some places. The bill, which passed its first reading in the lower house of France's parliament on Thursday, would remove the option of showing a negative Covid-19 test to gain access to a host of public venues. Instead, people would have to be fully vaccinated to visit a range of spaces, including bars and restaurants. The government says it expects the new rules to come into force on 15 January, although the opposition-dominated Senate could delay the process. But demonstrators on Saturday accused the government of trampling on their freedoms and treating citizens unequally. Others targeted their anger at the president, Emmanuel Macron, over comments he made earlier this week in relation to unvaccinated citizens, telling Le Parisian newspaper that he wanted to "piss them off". One protester, hospital administrator Virginie Houget, told the Reuters news agency that Mr Macron's remarks were "the last straw". And in Paris, where some 18,000 people marched against the new law, demonstrators responded to his coarse language by chanting: "We'll piss you off". TV images showed altercations between protesters and police turning violent in some places. In Montpellier officers used teargas during clashes with the demonstrators. Turnout for the protests was estimated to be about four times higher than the last major demonstrations on 18 December, when some 25,500 people marched across the country. But despite the vocal protests, opposition to the new measures is not widespread and recent polling suggests the vast majority of people back the vaccine pass. France is one of the most highly vaccinated countries in Europe, with more than 90% of over-12s eligible for the shot fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, new coronavirus infections are rising rapidly across France as the new Omicron variant takes hold. The country recorded more than 300,000 new cases for the second time in a week on Friday and admissions to intensive care wards are rising steadily, putting healthcare systems under strain. Some hospitals have reported that some 85% of ICU patients are not vaccinated against Covid-19.