(Bloomberg) -- Germany will stop subsidizing lost wages for unvaccinated people who miss work due to Covid-19 quarantine, the latest in a series of increasingly strict tactics to prod people to get their shots. 

“It’s a question of fairness,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters Wednesday after talks with counterparts from Germany’s 16 regions. “Those who protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated can ask the legitimate question of why they have to help pay for someone who’s not vaccinated.”  

The change goes into effect on Nov. 1. The move is one of the ways the German government is pushing people toward getting inoculated while stopping short of an outright requirement. As of Oct. 11, Covid tests -- obligatory for unvaccinated people in many areas of public life in Germany -- will no longer be free of charge.

Assuming no new vaccine-resistant variant emerges, Germany could reach herd immunity by spring and can “return to normal,” Spahn was quoted as saying in an interview with Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. Though the rate of vaccination has slowed, 63% of the population is now fully inoculated. 

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