Spahn wants to lower pharmacy fees for digital vaccination certificates

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn wants to reduce the remuneration of pharmacies for the creation of digital Corona vaccination certificates as of July 1. Instead of the current 18 euros per certificate, it will be six euros per certificate, the CDU politician announced on Wednesday during consultations with his state colleagues, as the news agency dpa learned from participant circles.According to the statement, the higher compensation at the beginning should serve to finance start-up costs for training, IT equipment and registrations, for example, and to create an offer for citizens in as many places as possible. The figures for the first two days in the pharmacies showed that this had been successful.

In total, more than ten million digital vaccination certificates have now been issued at all dispensing points, Spahn reported. The digital proof is to be issued directly after the second vaccination in vaccination centers and practices. Subsequently, the output is also possible since Monday in many pharmacies, citizens can pick up the proof there free of charge. More than 10,000 pharmacies have participated, said Spahn. He was positively surprised by this. The digital certificate, which has been agreed upon throughout the EU, is a voluntary addition to the yellow paper vaccination booklet, which is still valid.

However, there had been much criticism of the level of remuneration, especially since the Federal Audit Office had criticized "a clear overcompensation" in favor of pharmacies only last week with regard to the distribution of free Corona protective masks in winter. With regard to the digital vaccination certificate, the German Association of General Practitioners criticized disproportionality in the remuneration.

The association justifies this as follows: On the one hand, physicians would receive only six euros for the subsequent creation of vaccination certificates for their own patients, or two euros if they use their practice management system for this purpose. On the other hand, they would receive 20 euros for the vaccination itself, including education and counseling, i.e. only marginally more. "The medical service itself seems to count less than the effort to quickly initiate projects," said Ulrich Weigeldt, chairman of the association.

There was also criticism from the opposition about the lack of transparency about how the remuneration is made up. FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann demanded that the ministry disclose the basis for calculation. The Federation of German Pharmacists' Associations, on the other hand, described the effort for pharmacies, also put forward by Spahn, as considerable and therefore called the remuneration "appropriate".

Image by Wilfried Pohnke