Europe's leaders are toughening their stances towards unvaccinated people and pursuing measures that increasingly isolate them from the rest of society, as frustration grows over stalling shot rollouts and a wave of COVID-19 infections on the continent.
Germany may become the next country to impose stricter rules on those who haven't been fully inoculated, after the parties making up its prospective new coalition government hardened their proposed COVID-19 approach in parliament.
The proposed measures would require Germans to provide proof of vaccination or a negative test in order to ride a bus or board a train, in an expansion of the country's "3G" system that requires either to enter certain venues and settings.
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Green Party co-leader Robert Habeck told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that the rules in effect amount to a "lockdown for the unvaccinated."
The policy document by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens is set for a vote in the Bundestag, as the three so-called "traffic light" parties near the formation of a new government.
It comes as Germany tackles a wave of infections and reflects a growing exasperation across much of the EU at those who continue to refuse a vaccination.
About two-thirds of Germans are fully vaccinated - one of the lowest rates in western Europe - and the country's leading politicians have turned to tough rhetoric and restrictive measures in an effort to push the rate higher.
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Infections are meanwhile rising at a rapid rate. The country is nearing a seven-day rolling average of 40,000 new cases a day, its highest rate since the pandemic began and more than double the figure at the start of November.
New restrictions on unvaccinated people came into effect in the capital Berlin on Monday. Proof of full vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 in the past six months is required for entry to bars, restaurants, cinemas and other entertainment venues. But the current wave of infections is mainly affecting the southern and eastern parts of the nation, where vaccine uptake is lower.
If the measures proposed by the coalition are agreed, they would move Germany closer in line with its southern neighbour Austria, where a lockdown specifically targeted at unvaccinated people came into force Monday. It bans unvaccinated people - more than a third of the country's population - from leaving their homes except for a few specific reasons.
The measures are being enforced by police officers performing spot checks, and were unveiled alongside a serious of stern warnings from the country's new chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.
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He called the nation's vaccine uptake "shamefully low" and said those who are not inoculated will now have to experience "exactly what we all had to suffer through in 2020." Austria, where vaccine uptake is lower than Germany, is suffering an intense wave of infections.
By contrast, Spain and Portugal have avoided the brunt of the winter wave after posting the highest vaccination rates in Europe.
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