More than 1.5 million nurses will receive a bonus of up to 2,500 euros for their work during the corona pandemic. On Thursday evening, the Bundestag passed a corresponding law with a large majority, with which one billion euros will be made available for the project – half each for the clinical area and half for geriatric care.
“We owe the fact that Germany has been able to cope with the pandemic so far to a large extent to the tireless commitment of the nursing staff,” said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). At the same time, he conceded that better working conditions and higher pay were also needed, regardless of the bonus. Therefore, the law also decided that care facilities without their own collective agreement must be based on the average wages in the region when paying from September.
With the care bonus, 500 million euros flow to more than 800 hospitals, where a particularly large number of people had to be ventilated because of Corona. The clinics are to distribute the money to the employees in stages, with the maximum rate going to specialist nurses in intensive care units. There is a further 500 million euros for geriatric nurses who worked in a home for at least three months between November 2020 and the end of June 2022. You should receive a one-time bonus of up to 550 euros.
In addition, it was decided that pharmacies will in future be allowed to carry out vaccinations against flu in addition to corona vaccinations. According to this, pharmacies are generally entitled to give flu vaccinations in the future if the staff has been trained accordingly. So far, this was only permitted as part of a model project.
The pharmacists’ association ABDA welcomed the parliamentary decision. “Additional offers are urgently needed, particularly for annual flu protection, since the vaccination rate is far too low despite all offers and campaigns,” explained ABDA President Gabriele Regina Overwiening. Vaccination against the corona virus has been administered in pharmacies nationwide since the beginning of February.
