Germany to Introduce ‘China-Style’ Colour-Coded Vaccine Status App

15 January 2022, Berlin: A restaurant employee checks the vaccination status of two people
Annette Riedl/picture alliance via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Plans to introduce a colour-coded vaccination status app in Germany that will afford privileges to those who recently received a the jab or booster shot have been criticised as an assault on freedom and akin to schemes in Communist China.

In a move to supposedly prepare for another wave of the Wuhan virus in the Autumn, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach — who after getting four jabs himself, is currently in quarantine with Covid — has put forward plans under the Infection Protection Act to introduce a colour coded smartphone application that will track the rate of vaccination of the individual.

The plan, which the Berliner Zeitung likened to a similar app in Communist China, which classifies people by a colour code based on their likelihood of having come in contact with the virus. The German app, on the other hand, will allow those who recently either received a vaccination or a booster shot to avoid the impending mask mandates that will likely apply to restaurants, sporting events, and other public events, with a colour indicating an individuals level of vaccination.

“If vaccines protective against infection are available in the Autumn, they should also bring an advantage for vaccinated people. Masks in the interior cannot be dispensed with in Autumn. An exception would be justifiable for the newly vaccinated,” the Health Minister said in a statement released from home quarantine.

Ironically, despite the goal of incentivising more people to take a coronavirus vaccine going into the winter months, Lauterbach seemingly undercut his own plan by saying that if too many people attempted to get jabbed to avoid mask-wearing, the exception may be removed.

He also questioned whether people would get boosters every three months in order to avoid the restrictions, writing on social media: “Do you seriously believe that people get vaccinated every 3 months in order to be able to go to a restaurant without a mask??????”

Lauterbach had previously argued in favour of a blanket vaccine mandate for everyone in Germany, however, was ultimately forced to backtrack from the scheme after the government rejected the draconian measure.

Nevertheless, his plans for a return to restrictions have been widely criticised in Germany, given the privacy concerns of people having to display a colour indicating their vaccine status, and also the practicalities of restaurants and other businesses being forced to apply different standards based on the colour.

The leader of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Tino Chrupalla described the measure as “inhuman” and mocked the “four times vaccinated” Health Minister for attempting to control others as he “sits at home with corona”.

“Colour indicates whether the citizen enjoys privileges of the vaccinated… Free citizens must not be marked!” Chrupalla said.

The chairwoman of the Berlin AfD, Kristin Brinker said that “discrimination” and “public display” of vaccination status will on serve to “further divide society instead of finding pragmatic and reasonable solutions.”

Previously, drawing grim yet inevitable comparisons to Germany’s history, citizens in the city of Saarbrücken were given coloured bands to publicly display that they had taken the jab, allowing them access to areas with mandated the vaccine.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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