Controversy over test certificates, the House of Representatives does not seem convinced yet

The House of Representatives is debating today the use of test certificates. In the coming months, access testing should make it possible to open up the community more quickly than it would be without a test. This is the reason behind the government bill.

Recently, pilots have been detained, people can, for example, go to a football match after showing a negative test certificate. The government wants to keep doing this, so people can return to museums, movie theaters or restaurants with a negative test, for example. Public transport and city hall are not covered.

dichotomy

The entire House of Representatives is not necessarily convinced, as it now appears to be just a matter of months before a large portion of the population is vaccinated against the Coronavirus. And there are objections on the right side of the house, because in this way a division can arise between people who want to test and not want to be tested.

A number of parties are questioning whether the entire project is worth the money: To enable testing on a large scale, the government has allocated nearly € 1 billion.

Personal contribution € 7.50

The parties also have questions about the costs to the citizens. In the first months, the government will bear the costs of the exams, but after July 1, people will have to pay a personal contribution. The personal contribution will be € 7.50 and applies only to major events such as festivals. PvdA and D66, among others, are against this.

Then there is the issue of the vaccination certificate. The D66 wants this to be incorporated into law as an alternative to a negative test certificate. In other words, if you have been vaccinated, you should no longer show a negative test.

According to the Ministry of Health, it is still too early to do so. It must first be clear whether the vaccination prevents infection or transmission of the virus to anyone and to what extent. The Health Council will release an advisory report on this in mid-May.

Today’s discussion with outgoing ministers De Jong of Public Health and Van Woot Economic Affairs will begin at 10:30 a.m. At least twelve hours have been allocated to this. You can follow him directly on NPO Politiek.