In the long run, unvaccinated people will no longer be able to take a corona test for free to gain access to events, for example. That is what the outgoing cabinet said in the corona press conference. It is not yet known from when payment for access tests has to be made.
In addition, catering entrepreneurs and organizers of events, festivals and sports competitions will be obliged from 20 September to request a valid corona ticket for meetings of 75 people or more. This requirement applies both indoors and outdoors.
A test for someone who has not been vaccinated, for example to go to the pub for an evening, will therefore have to be paid for out of pocket. “We want to get rid of those free tests. There will come a time when we stop doing that. So that makes it less attractive not to be vaccinated,” Prime Minister Rutte said in response to questions from journalists.
No vaccination obligation
Yet there is no disguised vaccination obligation, says the cabinet. “We are emphatically not in favor of a vaccination obligation,” said outgoing corona minister De Jonge. But, according to him, refusal is not entirely without obligation. “Can you expect people to contribute to the costs of access tests themselves, if everyone has had the chance to be vaccinated? The cabinet thinks so.”
According to the ministers, this kind of “new discussions” is now being discussed, because the point has almost been reached that everyone in the Netherlands can be vaccinated. “Having vaccinated is the wise choice, but it remains everyone’s own choice. A free choice does not mean a free choice. Freedom never comes without responsibility for yourself and for the people around you.”
‘You had your chance’
“You can’t let the people who took the opportunity when they got it wait for the people who didn’t take the opportunity when they got it,” said De Jonge. “There is a limit to the extent to which the freedom of one person can limit the freedom of another.”
Outgoing minister De Jonge explained how vaccination options influenced the choice for rapid relaxation in education:
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