The government of Germany has initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country. With the nationwide spread of the disease from March 2020, preventive measures were replaced by containment measures, including a lockdown from March. On 25 March, the Bundestag made the determination of an epidemic situation of national significance (:de:Epidemische Lage von nationaler Tragweite). This created a legal framework for the government of chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the 16 German states to agree on nationwide pandemic restrictions. Implementation of decisions by that panel remained a matter of individual states, however, leading to differences in anti-pandemic rules and regulations across states.
The first months of fighting the pandemic were widely considered a success. This was seen by observers to have been due to a wide acceptance of the cautious course of Merkel, whose televised speech on 18 March was considered highly effective. Case numbers were decreasing to a degree that much of public life had returned to normal by late summer. This success was not repeated with the second wave of the pandemic, which saw daily new cases rise seven-fold over the course of October 2020 and resulted in a second lockdown from December 2020, and the third wave in the first months of 2021. Besides lockdown fatigue gaining ground, the approaching 2021 German federal election saw tougher debates on pandemic responses taken by the government of Merkel, including from within the ranks of her own CDU/CSU party. The (federal emergency brake) from April to June 2021 included provisions to automatically impose curfews and school closures in states and districts if incidences exceeded certain thresholds. One of its principal objectives was to reduce the confusion that had arisen due to differing anti-pandemic measures across states. The accelerating vaccination campaign was credited with overcoming the third wave.
The fourth wave of the pandemic from August 2021 led to record case numbers by November, while the severe cases and deaths among adults were far lower in the previous waves due to the vaccinations. Before the formation of the Scholz cabinet in early December, observers saw anti-pandemic decision making as being hampered by the nature of the caretaker government of Merkel, while also saying that the government had since much earlier been overly hesitant to impose tough, unpopular decisions. With expiry of the epidemic situation of national significance in November 2021 a catalogue of measures was rolled out, including restrictions tied to the hospitalization rate. A partial vaccine mandate for health workers took effect in mid-March 2022. Booster shots were a central part of the government strategy against the Omicron variant, which was driving the fifth and sixth waves of the pandemic. A proposal for a vaccine mandate for all aged 60 and over was rejected in the Bundestag on 7 April, in what was seen by observers as a major setback for the government.
Many coronavirus measures faced legal challenges from individuals. In November 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a challenge against the in which several members of the FDP (Free Democrats) party had participated. The far-right populist AfD party also challenged several measures.
Advisory bodies
During the pandemic, the German government received advice from several scientific bodies. They also collaborated on occasion: following a request by health minister Jens Spahn, the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institute, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the German Ethics Council produced recommendations on 9November 2020 with criteria for how to prioritize the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Other organizations and bodies besides the ones listed below have provided pandemic advisories for the government. The Helmholtz Association issued a statement on the pandemic in April 2020.