Germany sharply rejects RFK Jr.'s claims that it prosecutes doctors for
vaccine exemptions
[January 12, 2026]
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
BERLIN (AP) — The German government has sharply rejected accusations by
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming that it has been
sidelining patient autonomy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The statements made by the US Secretary of Health are completely
unfounded, factually incorrect, and must be rejected,” German Health
Minister Nina Warken said in a statement late Saturday.
Kennedy said in a video post earlier on Saturday that he had sent the
German minister a letter based on reports coming out of Germany that the
government was “limiting people’s abilities to act on their own
convictions when they face medical decisions.”
The American health secretary said that “I've learned that more than a
thousand German physicians and thousands of their patients now face
prosecution and punishment for issuing exemptions from wearing masks or
getting COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic."
Warken rejected Kennedy’s claims, saying that “during the coronavirus
pandemic, there was never any obligation on the medical profession to
administer COVID-19 vaccinations. Anyone who did not want to offer
vaccinations for medical, ethical, or personal reasons was not liable to
prosecution, nor did they have to fear sanctions.”
Kennedy did not give provide specific examples or say which reports he
was referring to but added that “in my letter, I explained that Germany
is targeting physicians who put their patients first and punishing
citizens for making their own medical choices.”
He concluded that "the German government is now violating the sacred
patient physician relationship, replacing it is a dangerous system that
makes physicians enforcers of state policies.”
Kennedy said that in his letter he made clear that “Germany has the
opportunity and the responsibility to correct this trajectory, to
restore medical autonomy, to end politically motivated prosecutions.”
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Robert Kennedy Jr., center, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to
lead the Health and Human Services Department, walks between
meetings with senators on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
 Warken pointed out that there were
no professional bans or fines for not getting vaccinated.
“Criminal prosecution was only pursued in cases of fraud and
document forgery, such as the issuance of false vaccination
certificates or fake mask certificates," the minister said.
She also clarified that in general in Germany “patients are also
free to decide which therapy they wish to undergo.”
Former German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who was in charge
during the pandemic, also replied, addressing Kennedy directly on X
saying that he “should take care of health problems in his own
country. Short life expectancy, extreme costs, tens of thousands of
drug deaths and murder victims."
“In Germany, doctors are not punished by the government for issuing
false medical certificates. In our country, the courts are
independent,” Lauterbach wrote.
While a majority of Germans were eager to get vaccinated against the
COVID-19 virus during the pandemic, there were also protests by a
small minority of vaccine skeptics in Germany which were sometimes
supported by far-right movements.
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