CHF 300 premium for vaccinated persons, CHF 100 fine for unvaccinated – "and in November we celebrate Freedom Day"

Switzerland currently has a low vaccination rate. Former SP President Peter Bodenmann is now calling for vaccinated and recovered patients to be rewarded with CHF 300, and for vaccine refusers to be punished with a fine of CHF 100. In the meantime, the Federal Council is deliberating whether corona tests should remain free-of -charge. The federal government spends much less money on the tests than it had budgeted.

Will we soon have to pay for corona tests or not? The Federal Council (Bundesrat) will discuss this issue again next Friday. This time, it is very likely that it will come to a decision.

In August, the SVP (Swiss People’s Party) Federal Councillors Ueli Maurer and Guy Parmelin campaigned for the cost obligation for Covid tests. Health Minister Alain Berset (SP: SocialistParty), on the other hand, was in favour of the tests remaining free. The magistrates of the SVP prevailed with the support of their FDP counterparts, and the Federal Council decided that the Covid e tests will no longer be free of charge from 1 October.

Messrs. Maurer and Parmelin have since changed their minds. They now consider that the starting position is no longer the same following the extension of the Covid certificate requirement. Unvaccinated persons should not be worse off by being asked to pay for the tests.

It can now be assumed that there is a majority in the government for free tests. But Alain Berset is annoyed by this to-ing and fro-ing. Especially since a new consultation of the cantons would be necessary if the Federal Council wanted to overturn its decision made in August. The government wants to avoid that.

Costs are only 35% of the sum budgeted
It’s now possible that the government will introduce the cost obligation later than planned. Groups – such as people who have completed the first vaccination – could also be exempted from payment. It is unlikely, however, that the tests will remain free for everyone.

Nobody wants to talk about compulsory vaccination. But it turns out that exerting a certain amount of pressure on vaccine sceptics is not without effect. The number of vaccinations in Switzerland has increased significantly since the extension of the certificate requirement, although the rate is still quite far from high values in Denmark, which has lifted all corona measures.

Those who want to introduce the cost obligation for tests want to avoid the general public having to pay for those who are unwilling to vaccinate. But how much money does the federal government spend on corona tests? On request, the Federal Office of Public Health stated that, officially, CHF 366.2 million has been spent since the outbreak of the pandemic.

This amount covers the period from the third quarter of 2020 to the end of the first quarter of this year. Data is not yet available for the second quarter of 2021. And: as the reporting period for claims is nine months, it’s possible that the sum will increase retrospectively. In the first quarter of this year, the figure has so far been CHF 172.4 million.

Former Federal Councillor Blocher insists on personal responsibility
If you extrapolate the costs to the whole year, you come to around CHF 700 million. On the one hand, many people have taken more tests since the introduction of the extended certificate requirement in mid-September. On the other hand, people who have been vaccinated twice were able to reduce the number of their tests.

The federal government will spend around CHF 800 million on corona tests this year. This is a high amount – but the federal government had expected much higher costs. The government approved CHF 2.5 billion for corona tests, and this sum has not nearly been reached yet. When spending on the pandemic for this year was estimated, it was not yet known that vaccines would soon be available for the entire population.

So money is not the problem. The federal government could pay for the tests for a long time to come. However, the FDP, and with it former SVP Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher think that those who do not want to be vaccinated should assume a certain amount of self-responsibility. The state government now seems to be pivoting to this course.

Even if Ueli Maurer and Guy Parmelin try to overturn the cost obligation, the SVP parliamentary group has drawn up a motion calling for the free tests to be continued. The SP, the Greens and the Mitte (Centre party) supported the demand, while the FDP and the Green Liberals are against it.

Financial incentives: Peter Bodenmann, hotelier in the Upper Valais and former SP president.
Photo: Georgios Kefalas

Peter Bodenmann has a plan for achieving herd immunity
If corona tests cost something for the people tested, this creates an incentive to become vaccinated. Another proposal for a financial incentive has now been brought into play by the Valais hotelier and former SP president Peter Bodenmann: anyone who is vaccinated or has recovered should receive a bonus of CHF 300. Bodenmann, who was once health director of the canton of Valais, is convinced that:

"Such a reward would motivate those people who are still hesitant to vaccinate, but who are not absolute opponents of vaccination."

The latter are almost impossible to convince, but would probably only make up about 10 to 15% of the population. The de facto herd immunity can be achieved even without this proportion, says Bodenmann.

He has already implemented this idea on a small scale – in his own company in Brig. "The employees of my hotel receive an expense allowance if they are vaccinated or recovered or have themselves vaccinated for the first time by the end of the month," he says. The hotel had made clarifications with the Valais tax office – and this payment was tax-free. And the experience is good.

On November 11, the ‘Treichler’ are to play for Freedom Day
Bodenmann's hotel in the Upper Valais is not the only company that administers such "motivational injections". As Radio SRF reported on Tuesday morning, all employees of the Loeb department store in Bern who can present a certificate will also receive a voucher in the form of a voucher worth CHF 250.

Bodenmann suggests that the federal government could also combine a comparable bonus system with a small malus. If you don’t want to be vaccinated under any circumstances, you would have to pay a one-time fine of CHF 100 (!?? editor). The Valais hotelier is convinced that this would accelerate the pace of vaccination: "Switzerland could then celebrate its Freedom Day on 11.11.2021 at 11.11 a.m.," says Bodenmann, "with the Freedom Trychlers as a corona combo."

Very funny!!