German politicians on Saturday debated whether to create a vaccine registry for the country. 

It comes amid a sharp rise in infection numbers at the beginning of the month and warnings from health officials about the threat of another COVID surge, and as politicians raise the prospect of a general vaccine mandate.

Germany approved a vaccine mandate for health workers on December 10, requiring all health workers to show proof of vaccination or show they have recovered from the infection by the middle of March 2022. Whether this will be expanded to the general population remains to be seen.

Politicians debate vaccine registry 

Kevin Kühnert, general secretary for the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland that he rejected the idea of collecting people's data for the purposes of creating a registry.

"Even if it is limited to COVID vaccination data, I see the fundamental danger that such a step would open the door for further access to data," he said.

Kühnert also added that health agencies were already overburdened and he wasn't sure how they would be able to handle the process of administering the database.

Bärbel Bas, president of the German Bundestag, also of the SPD, said she supported the idea of a vaccine registry. She told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that there was very little data vaccine available at the moment, including, for example, about the vaccination status of nurses.

Friedrich Merz, expected to be officially appointed as the new chairman of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in January, said a number of questions still had to be answered.

"We don't have a national vaccination register yet, we don't know who is vaccinated and who is not vaccinated," he told ZDF Heute Journal.

He also raised questions about the potential for introducing a general vaccine mandate in Germany.

"The question of the enforcement of such a law is, in my view, at least as important as the discussion about the obligation itself."

Germany relies on data collected by vaccination centers and doctors to provide general information on regional and national vaccine rates, but there is no central database linking individuals to their vaccine status.  

Austria plans to use a central register in the implementation of its mandatory vaccination obligation. 

Planned protests against COVID rules

Around 8,000 Germans were expected to gather in the northern city of Hamburg on Saturday to protest COVID rules, according to police.

Other cities like Freiburg, Hanover and the region of Neumark are also expecting smaller protests.

Some demonstrators are also taking aim at Germany's ongoing campaign for inoculating children.

Germany's vaccination rate is just under 70%, which is around the EU average. But the rate is lower than in countries like Portugal and Ireland.

rm/aw (dpa, epd)

Correction, December 20, 2021: This article has been updated to correct several typos and clarify that Friedrich Merz is not yet the chairman of the CDU