BERLIN — The German government has issued a stern rebuttal to allegations made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claimed German authorities undermined patient autonomy and targeted physicians during the COVID-19 crisis. The diplomatic confrontation emerged through public statements and social media exchanges over the weekend.\n\nGerman Health Minister Nina Warken categorically denied Kennedy’s assertions in an official statement released Saturday evening, describing them as \”completely unfounded, factually incorrect, and must be rejected.\” The strong response came hours after Kennedy published a video claiming he had sent a formal letter to the German government expressing concerns about \”limiting people’s abilities to act on their own convictions when they face medical decisions.\”\n\nThe American health official alleged 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.\” However, Kennedy provided no specific evidence or documentation to support these claims.\n\nMinister Warken clarified Germany’s pandemic policies, emphasizing that \”during the coronavirus pandemic, there was never any obligation on the medical profession to administer COVID-19 vaccinations. Anyone who did not want to offer vaccinations for medical, ethical, or personal reasons was not liable to prosecution, nor did they have to fear sanctions.\”\n\nThe health minister further explained that criminal prosecution only occurred in cases involving fraud and document forgery, particularly regarding false vaccination or mask exemption certificates. She reaffirmed that German patients maintain full autonomy in deciding their preferred therapies.\n\nThe controversy expanded when former German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who led the country’s pandemic response, directly addressed Kennedy on social media platform X. Lauterbach suggested the U.S. official should prioritize domestic health challenges, citing \”short life expectancy, extreme costs, tens of thousands of drug deaths and murder victims\” in the United States.\n\nLauterbach emphasized Germany’s judicial independence, stating that \”doctors are not punished by the government for issuing false medical certificates. In our country, the courts are independent.\”\n\nWhile Germany experienced significant vaccination uptake during the pandemic, a small minority of vaccine skeptics—sometimes supported by far-right movements—organized protests against government health measures. The current exchange highlights ongoing international debates about pandemic policies and medical freedom that continue to resonate in global health diplomacy.
Germany sharply rejects RFK Jr.’s claims that it prosecutes doctors for vaccine exemptions
