Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern!

Today is what my kids call “llama day” at school. It’s the day students spit (hence, the “llama”) into a test tube as part of mass Covid-19 testing in the schools in Bern. Covid-19 is on everyone’s mind here after the government announced the latest round of measures and SWISS became the first European airline to introduce a vaccination mandate for flight crew.

Good news for the Swiss abroad, the government formally confirmed that Swiss outside the country and cross-border workers can get the jab.

Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

In the News – the end of free Covid tests, FIFA pays it forward and Swiss evacuations from Afghanistan

• The Swiss government announced the next set of measures to stem the pandemic as new daily cases exceeded 3,000 today. With hospitals under more pressure, the government is putting an end to free testing for the Covid certificate in hopes that it will incentivise more people to get vaccinated. The government has also started consultations on expanding the use of the Covid certificate (for vaccinated, tested or recovered people) to more locations but didn’t announce anything along the lines of what can be seen in Italy and France. The Swiss Abroad and family members, who don’t have compulsory health insurance in Switzerland, can now get vaccinated here.
• Football’s world governing body, FIFA, has set up a fund to reclaim $201 million (CHF183 million) stolen by corrupt officials and marketing executives. The fund is expected to funnel money into youth and community programmes. When announcing the fund, FIFA President Gianni Infantino indicated this was part of a culture change from a “toxic organisation” to a highly “esteemed and trusted” sports body. In other football news, my local Bern football team, the Young Boys, has made it into the Champions League after beating Ferencvaros Budapest yesterday. This should come with a good chunk of change – CHF25 million by most estimates.
• One of the largest evacuation operations appears to have ended. Last night, the government announced that all Swiss who wanted to leave Afghanistan have been safely evacuated, thanking Germany for its support on the operation. No further Swiss evacuations are planned.
• Swiss universities are pretty good when it comes to sustainability but no pioneers. This is according to the third study ranking Swiss universitiesExternal link on sustainability criteria conducted by WWF. The Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich, and the universities of Bern and Lausanne topped the ranking.

Keystone / Valentin Flauraud

SWISS airlines’ vaccination mandate enters new legal territory

On Wednesday, SWISS International Airlines announced the first vaccination mandate for a European airline. The airline, which is owned by Lufthansa, was backed into a corner as more destinations such as Hong Kong were already demanding proof of vaccination of flight crews. Still reeling from pandemic losses, the company said that if they had to stop service to certain destinations it would “seriously diminish the effectiveness of the SWISS hub system”.

Although the decision seemed inevitable, it still surprised many people here in Switzerland where companies have been tiptoeing around the topic. Unlike in the US where full approval of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine led to a wave of company vaccination mandates, there have been no such announcements here.

One reason is the shaky legal ground for this. In a story I wrote last week, I interviewed a Swiss employment law expert who explained that Swiss law is currently contradictory on the matter. On the one hand, public and private employers should be able to require vaccination for certain employees but on the other hand, no one can be forced against their will. She clarified that an Impfobligatorium (mandatory vaccination) is viewed as different than an Impfzwang (compulsory vaccination). The latter of which is not allowed.

But, as SWISS realised, it is getting more difficult for people to do their job, especially when it involves travel, if you aren’t vaccinated. What then? So far, trade unions haven’t pushed back on the move. What SWISS hasn’t commentedExternal link on, according to Swiss public television SRF, is what happens if someone refuses.

Public Domain

Fundraising campaign for Afghanistan

The Swiss Solidarity charity has announced a campaign to collect donationsExternal link for people impacted by events in Haiti and Afghanistan. Swiss Solidarity is the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company.