German public health reforms draw ire

A bill putting the reforms into effect is expected to be sent to the Bundestag before summer recess, aiming for implementation by Jan 1, 2025. Garlichs calls the reforms “symbolic politics” and says that the legislative time and effort could have better been spent on getting the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellor to implement tax incentives, such as lowering value-added tax on healthy food staples and raising it on highly processed, unhealthy food. Nicolai Savaskan of the German Society for Public Health and Population Medicine, a neurologist, epidemiologist, and head of the Health Authority of Neukölln, concludes, “We have not yet evaluated the pandemic reaction in Germany.