Press Releases

In its Ad hoc Recommendation published today, the German Ethics Council addresses the question of whether a vaccination against Covid-19 may or even must lead to special rules for vaccinated people. At present, the Ethics Council considers it unacceptable to lift state restrictions on civil liberties on an individual basis, not least because the possibility that vaccinated people may still spread the virus cannot be excluded with sufficient certainty.

In its Ad hoc Recommendation published today, the German Ethics Council proposes measures to ensure a minimum level of social contact for people living in long-term care facilities, despite the current need for infection control measures.

On 18 November 2020, the German Ethics Council, together with representatives of other European ethics councils and the WHO, will discuss the various strategies for a fair distribution of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines at national and international level. The event is part of the “Bioethics Forum” series and will be publicly accessible online.

Joint position paper of the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO), the German Ethics Council and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina on ethical, legal and practical framework conditions

In view of the many uncertainties that still exist regarding immunity against the novel coronavirus, the German Ethics Council does not recommend the use of immunity certificates at this time. Commercially available tests to detect immunity against SARS-CoV-2 should be more strictly regulated, considering doubts around their reliability and the resulting potential dangers.

In its Opinion published today, the German Ethics Council calls for considerable reforms in order to achieve minimum standards of ethically acceptable animal husbandry.