German euthanasia group says clients who want assisted suicide must first be vaccinated against COVID-19 — and the ridicule comes pouring in

Here's a vaccine mandate you may not have heard of — or maybe you just won't be believe it.

A German euthanasia group is requiring that all its clients get vaccinated against COVID-19 before they can they can undergo assisted suicide, the Daily Mail reported.

Huh?

That's right. Verein Sterbehilfe said "euthanasia and the preparatory examination" of "those willing to die require human closeness," the group said last month, the Daily Mail added.

"Human closeness, however, is ... a breeding ground for coronavirus transmission," the group added, according to the outlet.

However, it will allow "quick tests before encounters in closed rooms" in certain situations to ensure safety, the Daily Mail added.

Verein Sterbehilfe said the decision was based on the "difficult task of balancing the protection of our members, employees, and doctors with the practical organization of our everyday life in the association," the outlet noted.

More from the Daily Mail:

In February 2020, German lawmakers overturned an earlier ban on assisted suicide in a landmark ruling at the country's top court. The judgment decided a 2015 law banning professional assisted suicide was unconstitutional.

The milestone decision raised eyebrows by explicitly stating that people have "the right to a self-determined death," and that the right to assisted suicide services should not be limited to the seriously or incurably ill.

The verdict was a major victory for terminally ill patients, doctors and assisted suicide organizations who brought the case, complaining that the existing law went too far.

It is a sensitive subject in Germany as the Nazis used what they euphemistically called "euthanasia" to exterminate around 200,000 disabled people.

The Daily Mail said it reached out to Verein Sterbehilfe for comment.

How did folks react?

One Twitter commenter said the policy seems "reasonable" and "would protect workers in a healthcare setting" and "protect immunosuppressed people from catching a disease which could kill them more slowly and painfully" and "would allow them to have the death they want."

But others didn't see it that way:

• "Wow! This must be the most ridiculous s**t I've ever heard," another user said. "So now there will be a notice at the gate in heaven or hell saying 'entry only allowed to the fully vaccinated dead'...shame."
• "We have reached peak insanity," another commenter wrote.
• "Please tell me this is satire," another user quipped. "I think this is even dumber than when England prescribed the death penalty for attempted suicide."