German government response to the COVID-19 pandemic

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The government of Germany initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country. With the nationwide spread of the disease from March 2020, preventive measures were replaced by containment measures, including a lockdown from March. On 25 March, the Bundestag made the determination of an epidemic situation of national significance (de:Epidemische Lage von nationaler Tragweite).^[1] This created a legal framework for the government of chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the 16 German states to agree on nationwide pandemic restrictions.^[2] Implementation of decisions by that panel remained a matter of individual states, however,^[3] leading to differences in anti-pandemic rules and regulations across states.^[4] The Bundesnotbremse (federal emergency brake) in force from April to June 2021 sought to establish uniformity.^[5]

The first months of fighting the pandemic were widely considered a success. This was seen by observers to have been due to a wide acceptance of the cautious course of Merkel, whose televised speech on 18 March was considered highly effective.^[6] Case numbers were decreasing to a degree that much of public life had returned to normal by late summer. This success was not repeated with the second wave of the pandemic, which saw daily new cases rise seven-fold over the course of October 2020 and resulted in a second lockdown from December 2020, and the third wave in the first months of 2021.^[7] Besides lockdown fatigue gaining ground,^[8] another reason was the approaching 2021 German federal election, in which CDU/CSU contenders for the succession of Merkel tried to draw contrasts, often with a less cautious approach to the pandemic than hers.^[7] The accelerating vaccination campaign was credited with overcoming the third wave.^[9]

The fourth wave of the pandemic from August 2021^[10] led to record case numbers by November, while the severe cases and deaths among adults were far lower in the previous waves due to the vaccinations.^[11] Before the formation of the Scholz cabinet in early December, observers saw anti-pandemic decision making as being hampered by the nature of the caretaker government of Merkel, while also saying that the government had since much earlier been overly hesitant to impose tough, unpopular decisions.^[12][7] With expiry of the epidemic situation of national significance in November 2021 a catalogue of measures was rolled out, including restrictions tied to the hospitalization rate.^[13] Booster shots were a central part of the government strategy against the Omicron variant.^[14] A partial vaccine mandate for health workers took effect in mid-March 2022, but a proposal for a vaccine mandate for all aged 60 and over was rejected in the Bundestag on 7 April, in what was seen by observers as a major setback for the government.^[15]

Many coronavirus measures faced legal challenges from individuals.^[16] In November 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a challenge against the Bundesnotbremse in which several members of the FDP (Free Democrats) party had participated.^[17] The far-right populist AfD party also challenged several measures.^[13]