In Germany, it is currently being discussed whether vaccination against Corona should be introduced.
(Photo: dpa)
From February, compulsory vaccinations from the age of 18 will apply in Austria, while in France this has long been the case for certain professional groups. In contrast, the mandatory vaccination and testing in larger companies decreed by Joe Biden’s US government was recently stopped by the Supreme Court. Many countries are currently trying to boost the vaccination numbers, which have stalled in many places, by making vaccination compulsory.
It is also a topic in Germany at the moment. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD), for example, argued in the Bundestag debate on the latest corona measures: “In the long term we will only be able to end the pandemic in Germany if the vast majority of people are vaccinated in such a way that severe courses, even with new variants of the corona virus, do not be expected.” Therefore, for him, a general vaccination requirement is the safest and fastest way out of the pandemic.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had already said in November that he wanted vaccinations to be compulsory by March at the latest. However, this hardly seems feasible with the procedure currently planned by the traffic light coalition. Next week, an “orientation debate” on this topic is to take place in the Bundestag.
We would like to know your opinion right now: How do you feel about one general compulsory vaccination – and why? Would it only split society or bring an end to the spiral of lockdown and relaxation? How do you rate the Federal Government’s previous approach to this issue? Should there be a delay or a hurry in compulsory vaccination? Write us your opinion in five sentences [email protected]. We will publish selected articles with attribution on Thursday in print and online.
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In any case, the Bundestag should decide on compulsory corona vaccination in a free vote without the usual group discipline. In addition, there will be no bill by the traffic light government, but group motions by members of parliament. For example, members of parliament around the Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki have already submitted an application against a general obligation to vaccinate. The FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann, on the other hand, prefers an age-dependent regulation.
However, before all motions have been submitted, MEPs will still have a lot to discuss. After all, there is general agreement that a general obligation to vaccinate can hardly help to break the current omicron wave. Rather, it is hoped that they will make the coming autumn and winter easier.
Basically, a vaccination protects against a severe course of the disease, which means that a hospital stay and an overload of the health system are less likely. But at the moment the first voices are being raised that doubt whether now is the right time for compulsory vaccination. At present, the rapid spread of the omicron variant seems to be mostly associated with a rather mild course of the disease.
For example, the chair of the Ethics Council, Alena Buyx, told the “Spiegel” that the committee may have to reconsider its recommendation for an extended vaccination requirement. The compulsory vaccination discussion was started when the Delta variant was still prevalent in this country.
There are also doubts as to whether mandatory vaccination would actually change the minds of vaccine skeptics. Proponents believe that the higher pressure will cause them to give up their resistance. However, not everyone sees it that way.
The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission, Thomas Mertens, expressed concern to the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”, for example, that compulsory vaccination could divide society. He would prefer further advocacy and education on vaccination.
There are also a number of practical problems for which no solution has yet been found. It is unclear, for example, how it should actually be tracked who is vaccinated and who is not. There is currently no vaccination register. And what happens if people who don’t want to be vaccinated don’t pay the fine? What would even be constitutional and when?
If you would like to have your say on this topic in the Handelsblatt, write us a comment, either by e-mail [email protected] or on Instagram at @handelsblatt.
In order to break the omicron wave, the federal and state governments have decided on new corona measures. The Handelsblatt readership recently discussed how useful these are.