In the long run, unvaccinated people will no longer be able to take corona testing for free to access events, for example. This is what the outgoing cabinet said at the Corona press conference. It is not yet known when the access tests will have to be paid.

In addition, from September 20, entrepreneurs and organizers of sports events, festivals and competitions will be required to order a valid Corona ticket for meetings of 75 people or more. This requirement applies to both indoors and outdoors.

Therefore, the test of someone who has not been vaccinated, for example to go to the pub for an evening, must be paid out of your own pocket. “What we want to get rid of are these free tests. There will come a time when we stop doing that. That makes not vaccinating less attractive,” Prime Minister Rutte said in response to reporters’ questions.

There is no obligation to vaccinate

However, there is no compelling commitment to vaccination, the government says. “We are certainly not in favor of the vaccination obligation,” said outgoing Anti-Coronavirus Minister De Jong. But, according to him, refusal is not entirely without obligation. “Would you expect people to contribute to the costs of the access tests themselves, if everyone had the opportunity to get vaccinated? The government thinks so.”

According to the ministers, this type of “new discussion” is now being discussed, because almost everyone in the Netherlands can be vaccinated. “Vaccination is the wise choice, but it remains everyone’s choice. Free choice does not mean free choice. Freedom never comes without responsibility to yourself and to the people around you.”

‘Have you had your chance?’

“You can’t let the people who took the opportunity when they had it wait for the people who didn’t take the opportunity when they had it,” said De Jong. “There is a limit to how much one person’s freedom can limit another person’s freedom.”

Outgoing Minister De Jong explained how vaccination options influenced the choice of rapid relaxation in education: