Your 2021 Bingo card probably didn’t include Germany locking up an entire class of citizens it sees as “unclean,” did it? And yet yesterday, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a litany of tight restrictions for unvaccinated German citizens, as the nation moves toward a nationwide vaccine mandate. Not to overstate it, but really, Germany, this is so 1933.

The mandate stops just short of a complete shelter-in-place order for those who haven’t gotten the shot yet. Only those who have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid within the last six months will be allowed in restaurants, cinemas, leisure facilities, and all non-essential shops. Pharmacies and grocery stores are still open to them, for now, but they cannot attend outdoor events, including sporting events. They can only meet with members of their household and two other people.

The funny part, however, is that the liberties retained by the obedient Germans are hardly any better. Clubs are effectively shuttered for everyone, as the average number of Covid-19 cases is 400 per region, above the 350 case limit for a club to remain open in a given region. Attendance at outdoor events, including football, is limited to 15,000 attendees. And to top it all off, fireworks are banned on New Years’ Eve—for everyone. If she wanted to encourage compliance and increase the number of vaccinated Germans, Merkel needed a better carrot than this one.

And indeed, this is the same mistake that several European (and European acolyte) countries have made, in trying to mandate their way toward total vaccination. The only benefit of being in the “in” group is perhaps one or two fewer circumstances in which the same rules apply. Both classes are heavily regulated. Both still have to wear a mask on the airplane, and show a negative test to get in the country, and quarantine even after they’ve shown a negative test.

This week, three Australians have been taken into custody after jumping a fence to escape a mandatory quarantine at North Territory’s Darwin’s Howard Springs Covid-19 facility. All three had tested negative for Covid-19, according to reports, but Australia requires citizens returning from international travel to quarantine even if they are in good health. These three tried to escape the quarantine facility, which currently houses Australians returning from abroad (together with residents from Katherine, and surrounding areas, where there was a Covid outbreak last month), and are consequently being treated as criminals. Were they vaccinated? It doesn’t matter. They’re still subject to the biomedical security state. Their shot status didn’t award them a return to a life of liberty.

This all might be morbidly comical, if it weren’t so maddening. And since I’ve already brought up 1933, the word “appeasement” comes to mind. Just give in for a little while longer. Get vaccinated. Get another booster. Wear the damn mask. It will all go away eventually. Right?