German health minister rejects US counterpart's COVID claims

German Health Minister Nina Warken has rejected accusations by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr that doctors in Germany have faced legal action for issuing vaccine and mask exemptions during the coronavirus pandemic as baseless.

Kennedy, a known vaccine skeptic, posted a video on X on Saturday in which he says: "I've learned that more than a thousand German physicians, and thousands of their patients, now face prosecution and punishment for issuing exemptions from wearing masks or getting COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic."

In the post, Kennedy said he had written a letter to the German minister asking her "to restore medical autonomy" and "end politically motivated prosecutions."

Kennedy did not provide any sources for his claims and misspelled Warken's name as "Workin."

On Saturday evening, Warken, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), described Kennedy's assertions in a statement as "lacking any basis" and "factually incorrect."

"I can happily explain this to him personally," she said.

"At no time during the coronavirus pandemic was there any obligation for doctors to carry out vaccines against COVID-19," Warken said.

"Anyone who did not wish to offer vaccines for medical, ethical or personal reasons were not criminally liable and did not have to fear penalties," she added.

Warken said that "criminal prosecution took place only in cases of fraud and forgery of documents, such as the issuing of false vaccine certificates" or exemption certificates for masks.

"Doctors [in Germany] decide independently and autonomously on the treatment of patients," the minister stressed, adding that "patients are also free to decide which treatment they wish to receive."

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Former German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who oversaw much of Germany's response to the coronavirus pandemic, also fiercely rejected Kennedy's criticism.

"Honorable Secretary Kennedy should focus on health problems in his own country: low life expectancy, extreme costs, tens of thousands of drug-related deaths and murder victims," he wrote on X.

"In Germany, doctors are not punished by the government for issuing false medical certificates. Our courts are independent," Lauterbach said.

Kennedy, who is a nephew of late US President John F Kennedy, openly opposes the use of vaccines and has also backed several conspiracy theories, including on so-called chemtrails allegedly left by airplanes.

He has repeatedly been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and dubious theories on health as part of the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) initiative.

He also often promotes the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.