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Comment by teorema | Hacker News Reader

The problem, at least speaking as a US citizen, is that children cannot be vaccinated and are subject to testing requirements if they become ill. Also, even the vaccinated are having breakthrough cases and if not, are afraid of them or are being required to get tested again.

I see this exempts children but makes the mistake of tying specific vaccination decisions to the public health benefit of having free testing. It's abusing a public health tool as a cudgel, a pattern I'm seeing in various places.

If this happened in the US, it would just lead to undocumented spreading and delays in care, worsening outcomes.

Im worried with things like this, and similar missteps by the US government, we're heading back to March 2020.

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kids and people who can’t get the vaccine yet will still qualify for free testing in Germany.

As an adult you currently can get the shot without a waitlist or even an appointment.

Yeah I saw that. I guess my point is it's a dangerous path to go down, using access to care that has a public health benefit as a punishment to some. It just ends up hurting everyone in the end.

I wish everyone would get vaccinated. But they're not, and there's breakthrough cases (this has happened to multiple people I know personally).

I guess I see this in the opposite way as intended: why should an adult who's been vaccinated be punished in trying to get tested, as a side effect of trying to punish someone who hasn't?

This virus is a moving target. The test doesn't just benefit the person tested.

I don’t see it really as punishment, just prioritization of public funds which is normal when it comes to socialized healthcare.

The virus may be a moving target, but all governments have shown that they are willing to fund public safety against infection. If circumstances change, we may have to return to free and widespread testing, but the hope is that vaccination can drive the active infection rate to 0 which is something that all our measures for the past year have been unable to do.

Yeah - mostly agree.

> I guess I see this in the opposite way as intended: why should an adult who's been vaccinated be punished in trying to get tested, as a side effect of trying to punish someone who hasn't?

From my experience vaccinated people don't bother testing them selves - and I can totally relate as a fully vaccinated person.

The risk of spreading the virus as a FFP2 wearing vaccinated human seems to be so low that I personally tend to not care much.

What bothers me is that we as German citizens have the rare opportunity to get vaccinated and get back to a more normal life - but it seems like only ~60% are really interested in getting the shot. Right now we have too much vaccine doses and actually giving them to other countries (at least).

People just not going to their vaccination appointments, or cancelling due to a barber appointment, ..

This saddens me. I somehow thought the idiot ratio is lower. The pandemic was eye opening in that regard.

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Children in Germany are currently tested twice a week in school. Not sure whether this continues after summer break, but if it does those test certificates can be used outside of school too (when so requested at least).

Suspending tests for free though will mean many testing sites closing down, making it logistically harder for families to do certain things during vacation. But that is dependent on whether or not tests are required.

Not sure whether this continues after summer break,

Yes, it will continue and they are also required to wear masks all the time. Where I live school has started again and nothing has changed. The treatment of school children during the pandemic in Germany is a disgrace.

> The treatment of school children during the pandemic in Germany is a disgrace.

Why? This seems pretty safe compared to other countries.

>The problem, at least speaking as a US citizen, is that children cannot be vaccinated and are subject to testing requirements if they become ill

similar problem here in Denmark, in my case since my child is autistic it is difficult to test or vaccinate him.

Furthermore since I can have the disease despite being vaccinated I would like to get tested when it makes sense to do so.

on edit: the problem I mean is the higher level one of 'are subject to testing requirements if they become ill'.

But why should the German Gouvernement pay for an alternative lifestyle of few, when there is a objective better way?

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