Press Releases

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.

The German Ethics Council met for the first time today since its recent re-appointment of council members in Berlin and elected medical ethicist Alena Buyx as its chair.

The President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble, has appointed 21 members to the German Ethics Council as of 30 April 2020. This marks a reshuffling of the Council after several members had reached the end of their terms with the body on 10 April 2020, among them the previous chairman Peter Dabrock. Including three members who were appointed outside the regular cycle between 2016 and 2018, the German Ethics Council now has 24 members.