For the time being, the vaccination decision will probably be made voluntarily – or not at all.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The debate about compulsory vaccination in Germany is coming to a head – without a solution or even a schedule for one getting closer. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann calls for a quick decision on a general vaccination requirement. “The Bundestag should decide quickly whether a vaccination should be introduced. And if so, for whom, ”said Buschmann of“ Bild am Sonntag ”. MEPs should also take the time to carefully consider this difficult issue.
Politicians from the SPD and the Greens, on the other hand, dampened expectations of a quick solution. SPD parliamentary deputy Dirk Wiese told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”: “We should bring the deliberations in the Bundestag to a conclusion in the first quarter.” That was a demanding schedule. With a view to possible delays, Wiese emphasized that the compulsory vaccination does not have a short-term effect anyway, but is “in perspective a precaution for the coming autumn and winter”.
The parliamentary group leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, emphasized: “This is not an easy decision, it means a deep intervention.” In the parliamentary groups it must first be discussed what ideas there are. “And then we can hold the public debate in the Bundestag at the end of January,” said Haßelmann to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Sunday).
The Bundestag should vote on mandatory vaccination without group specifications. However, there is unlikely to be a quick decision. The first discussion is an “orientation debate” in January. The SPD is aiming for a legislative process to be concluded “in the first quarter”, ie by the end of March. The next regular meeting of the Bundesrat would be on April 8th.
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The German Association of Cities supports plans to introduce a general compulsory vaccination and relies on a quick decision. “In order to leave the pandemic behind us, we have to be vaccinated for the most part, we can probably only do that with a general vaccination requirement,” said Markus Lewe, President of the City Council, the Funke newspapers. He warned: “The Bundestag must conduct the necessary debate quickly and decide. Then we would be better prepared for the fifth wave. “
Union expects more pressure from the Chancellor
Union parliamentary group manager Thorsten Frei called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to be more active on the issue. “The Chancellor cannot wait with his arms crossed to see whether there will be proposals from Parliament or not. Valuable time is wasted there. That is the opposite of leadership, that is refusal to work! “, Said the CDU politician of” Bild am Sonntag “.
According to a survey by the polling institute Insa, a majority of citizens are in favor of a general vaccination requirement. In the survey for “Bild am Sonntag”, 61 percent were in favor of such a compulsory vaccination, 32 percent are against it, and 7 percent did not answer.
The German Child Protection Association is appealing to parents to get vaccinated against the corona virus. “A serious illness of the parents would be much worse for their children than that the parents cannot accompany them to the cinema,” said the President of the Child Protection Association, Heinz Hilgers, of the German Press Agency in Berlin. Paying attention to your own health, this is also in the interests of the offspring for people with children.
The question of a general vaccination requirement was also the topic of the federal-state consultations on Friday. “All 16 heads of government of the federal states have declared that they are in favor of a general compulsory vaccination,” said Chancellor Scholz afterwards. The round also decided on new measures to combat pandemics – including a nationwide 2G-plus regulation in the catering trade and changed quarantine regulations.
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