BERLIN – The German government has firmly dismissed allegations made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. concerning the erosion of patient autonomy, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis.

German Health Minister Nina Warken issued a statement on Saturday evening, emphatically stating, “The assertions by the U.S. Health Secretary are baseless, incorrect, and must be refuted.”

Earlier that day, Kennedy had released a video claiming he had dispatched a letter to the German minister. This letter, he said, was prompted by reports suggesting that the German government was “restricting individuals’ rights to make personal medical decisions.”

According to Kennedy, “I have learned that over a thousand German doctors and many of their patients are now under threat of legal action and penalties for granting exemptions from mask-wearing or COVID-19 vaccinations during the pandemic.”

Warken countered Kennedy’s allegations by clarifying that “Throughout the pandemic, there was no mandate compelling medical professionals to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Those who chose not to provide vaccinations for medical, ethical, or personal reasons faced no legal repercussions or 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.”

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.