Decision in March
SPD presents schedule for mandatory vaccination – shortly before Scholz’s first government survey
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich (l) presents the schedule for mandatory vaccination shortly before the important appearance of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (r)
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
In the heated vaccination debate, the SPD has now presented a timetable. At the end of January, SPD MPs should make a specific proposal – the final decision should then be made in March.
In the debate about a general corona vaccination obligation, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is coming under increasing pressure. The CDU / CSU opposition had accused him of weak leadership and demanded a schedule. Scholz’s party has now presented this shortly before the Chancellor will answer questions from MPs in the Bundestag for the first time this Wednesday. At the end of January, SPD MPs are to make a specific proposal, as parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich announced on Tuesday in Berlin.
According to this, SPD MPs are to present key points for a draft law in two weeks immediately after the first “orientation debate” on mandatory vaccination in parliament. These should then be the basis for a group proposal together with parliamentarians from other parliamentary groups. Parliament shouldn’t take more than two months to reach a decision in the Bundestag, said Mützenich: “We’ll have that finalized in March, of course.” Last year, Scholz had spoken out in favor of a general mandatory vaccination in early February or early March.
Patient advocates criticize compulsory vaccination
The Ampel-Coalition had agreed that the MPs could freely decide whether to be vaccinated without having to adhere to a certain group line. From the ranks of the SPD, Greens and FDP there has so far only been one application by members of the Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki of the FDP, in which a vaccination requirement is rejected.
Criticism also comes from the German Foundation for Patient Protection. “The discussion about the compulsory vaccination is currently overshadowing everything. But whether it will really come is becoming more and more improbable from day to day,” said Eugen Brysch, chairman of the German Foundation for Patient Protection of the editorial network Germany (RND). “Even if the Chancellor has made vaccination a top priority, Olaf Scholz should now have the size to turn back. Because more urgent issues have been postponed for far too long.”
The questions about vaccination are very complex, said Brysch. Anyone who wants to get started now must also explain how the exit from duty will be possible. “And that against the background that neither virus variants can be stopped in the future, nor will vaccination lead to sterile immunity,” argued the patient advocate. It is clear, however, that the vaccination is the best protection for yourself.
Compulsory vaccination through the front door – in these countries the anti-corona pikser is mandatory
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72 percent of Germans vaccinated
Proponents consider mandatory vaccination to be necessary because the vaccination rate is too low to contain the pandemic in the long term. 72 percent of the population have full basic protection with the mostly necessary second injection. More than 43 percent have also received a booster vaccination, which is considered important for effective protection against the more contagious virus variant Omikron. Slightly less than 75 percent received at least one injection.
A legal framework for the planned new corona quarantine rules is to be sealed this week. In the future, among other things, “boosted” with booster vaccinations will be exempt from quarantine as a contact person for infected people. The Federal Cabinet is to deal with a corresponding ordinance this Wednesday, as the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday evening. It should then come to the Bundestag on Thursday and finally to the Bundesrat on Friday. Ultimately, the quarantine rules must be implemented by the federal states.
The federal and state governments agreed on the new regulations last week, also with a view to the spread of the new Omikron virus variant. In general, segregation times should be shortened. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) should also publish updated recommendations on Friday, as the ministry said.
According to an RKI draft, the quarantine for contact persons of infected people and the isolation, if you are sick yourself, should be based on a “seven-day rule”: You can end after seven days if you come up with a negative PCR- or quick test “free tests”. Without a test, they should take ten days in the future.