Germany will not make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, adding that ensuring more Germans get vaccinated, sticking to distancing rules and testing should help prevent a fourth wave.

“We have no intention of going down this road,” Merkel said during a news conference. “There will be no compulsory vaccination,” she was quoted as saying by Reuters.

With the highly contagious Delta variant now dominant in Germany and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) public health agency saying at least 85 per cent of adults will need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, some have been calling for a new approach.

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