According to Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn’s plan, children aged 12 to 17 and pregnant women will only be able to benefit from free rapid coronavirus tests until the end of the year. „For both groups, the vaccination recommendation was only recently issued,” – A CDU politician told the daily Die Welt. These people can therefore now undergo vaccination.
The issue is to be regulated in a new testing regulation that will implement decisions made by federal and state authorities. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the premiers of the individual states have decided that the federally funded offer of free testing for all citizens should be withdrawn. „As of October 11, everyone who can be vaccinated will have to pay for the tests themselves,” Spahn said.
Overall, testing for coronavirus is expected to remain free for those who cannot get vaccinated – including children under the age of twelve. The first draft of the new regulation initially stipulated that testing for those between the ages of 12 and 17 would remain free until Nov. 30.
Source: www.ndr.de