Vaccine to be must for German military amid surging COVID-19 cases

BERLIN

Amid surging COVID-19 infections throughout Germany, vaccination will be made mandatory in the military, local media reported Tuesday.

The Defense Ministry confirmed a report in the German military weblog Augen Geradeaus that coronavirus jab will be added to the list of vaccines soldiers must get, according to the Berlin-based Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

The latest measure still has to be officially added to military regulations, the ministry said in a statement.

There were at least 1,215 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday within the military and the Defense Ministry's civilian staff.

The overall number of newly confirmed cases increased by 45,326 over the past 24 hours, Germany's disease control agency Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported earlier in the day.

In addition, 309 COVID-19 deaths were registered, bringing the overall death toll to 99,433.

Though several German states have stepped up the coronavirus rules for unvaccinated people, a sizeable portion of the population has so far defied the government’s call to get vaccinated, triggering a stern warning from German Health Minister Jens Spahn about the repercussions of not getting vaccinated.

"By the end of this winter pretty much everyone in Germany (...) will have been vaccinated, recovered, or died,” Spahn said Monday.

About 68% of Germany's population of 83 million has been fully vaccinated, way below the minimum threshold of 75% that the government is striving for.

While there have been calls for countrywide mandatory vaccination, a spokesman for outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that she will leave that sensitive issue up to the next federal government.