Germany rejects RFK Jr claims about Covid vaccine exemption prosecutions | Robert F Kennedy Jr
The German government has harshly rejected claims by US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr that doctors in Germany are facing legal action over vaccine and mask exemptions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The statements made by the US health minister are completely unfounded, factually incorrect and should be rejected,” German health minister Nina Warken said in a strongly worded statement published late Saturday.
Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, said in a video published on X that he wrote a letter to Warken calling for “an end to politically motivated investigations.” He cited no sources for his claims and misspelled Warken’s name as “Workin.”
Kennedy accused the government of “violating the sacred patient-physician relationship” and making doctors “executors of government policies,” claiming that the government “limits people’s ability to act on their own beliefs when faced with medical decisions.”
The US health secretary said: “I have learned that more than a thousand German doctors and thousands of their patients face prosecution and penalties for granting exemptions from wearing masks or receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.”
He did not give specific examples or specify which reports he was referring to, but added: “In my letter, I explained that Germany is targeting doctors who put their patients first and punishing citizens who make their own medical choices.”
He said that “no democracy based on trust and transparency should move in this direction” but that Germany “has the opportunity and the responsibility to correct this course.” [and] restoring medical autonomy”.
Warken rejected Kennedy’s claims, saying “the medical profession has never had an obligation to administer Covid-19 vaccines” during the pandemic. He said criminal prosecution is pursued only in cases of fraud and document forgery.
“An investigation cannot be initiated against people who do not want to be vaccinated for medical, ethical or personal reasons.” [or] sanctions,” he said, adding that in Germany generally “patients are free to decide what treatment they want to receive.”
Karl Lauterbach, the former German health minister who served during the pandemic, also responded by saying Kennedy “should be concerned about health problems in his own country,” such as short life expectancy and excessive healthcare expenses.
Lauterbach wrote, “In Germany, doctors are not punished by the government for giving false medical reports. In our country, the courts are independent.”
Kennedy has promoted various conspiracy theories and has been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and scientifically debunking health theories as part of the Trump administration’s controversial Make America Healthy Again initiative.
