Mehring: General compulsory vaccination may be unavoidable
Monday, November 22nd, 8.32 a.m .: The parliamentary manager of the Free Voters, Fabian Mehring, considers a general vaccination obligation to be possibly unavoidable – if the willingness to vaccinate does not quickly noticeably increase in those who have not been vaccinated so far. “A general compulsory vaccination for healthy adults can only remain taboo if a sufficient number of people recognize for themselves that vaccination is now the first civic duty,” said Mehring. “If the vaccination rate is still below 80 percent by Christmas, there is probably no way around a general vaccination requirement in the new year,” he predicted. “Otherwise the corona madness will start anew every autumn in the future.” Currently, just under 68 percent are fully vaccinated in Bavaria.
Since Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) first pleaded for a general vaccination requirement on Friday, the debate in Bavaria has picked up speed. Free voter parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl said on Sunday that even if it is a constitutional balancing act, there are a lot of arguments in favor of the general mandatory vaccination if you do not want to risk overloading the health system with Corona every autumn. Of the Augsburger Allgemeine Mehring also said: “The recent escalation of the corona infection process is dramatic, and the next few weeks will be brutal.”
Bavaria’s Minister of Health for general vaccination requirements
Monday, November 22nd, 8:02 a.m .: Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) can imagine a general vaccination requirement in view of the sharply increasing corona numbers. “I was always actually an opponent of mandatory vaccinations,” he told Deutschlandfunk on Monday morning. “But now I believe (…) that we have to talk about this topic relatively quickly.” Compulsory vaccination will not help today and tomorrow, but it is the way out of the pandemic
“Personally, as a last resort, I am now actually in favor of this general compulsory vaccination.” This has to be discussed relatively quickly in Berlin – a nationwide solution is needed. Last week, the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) pleaded for a general vaccination requirement. This Monday, the health ministers of the federal states (GMK) will meet to talk about the announced cap on order quantities for the Biontech vaccine.
Incidence value increases slightly to 640.0
Monday, November 22nd, 6.47 a.m .: The seven-day incidence in Bavaria has risen again – but this time only slightly: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a value of 640.0 on Monday – on Sunday it was 639.4. However, the number of new cases has fallen sharply, at least in comparison. In the past 24 hours, 8,426 new Covid-19 cases were reported; on Saturday it was significantly more than 13,000. 27 people died of or with the coronavirus in the same time. According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), 945 Covid patients are currently being treated in Bavarian intensive care units. According to the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) in Bavaria, the hospitalization incidence was most recently 9.1 (as of November 21, 8 a.m.). Statistically, within seven days there were 9.1 patients per 100,000 inhabitants who were admitted to hospital because of corona. Unvaccinated (14.1) were therefore significantly more likely than vaccinated (2.9).
The district of Freyung-Grafenau has the highest incidence in Bavaria with a value of 1569.8. This is followed by the districts of Rottal-Inn with 1426.9 and Landshut with 1157.6. Nine of the 96 counties and urban districts have an incidence of more than 1000. For the state capital Munich, the RKI reports a value of 705.3. The Upper Palatinate district of Amberg-Sulzbach has the lowest value with 211.7.
Kubicki sharply criticizes Söder’s corona management
Sunday, November 21, 12:03 p.m .: The deputy FDP federal chairman Wolfgang Kubicki has sharply criticized the corona management in parts of southern Germany and in particular Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). Söder puts his own career ambitions before protecting the population, said Kubicki on Sunday at an FDP state party conference in Neumünster, Schleswig-Holstein. “That is characterless and humanly pathetic.”
The pandemic situation is particularly difficult in southern Germany, said Kubicki. He referred to the comparatively low vaccination rates in Bavaria and Saxony. Hundreds of deaths in these countries are the fault of political negligence.
Kubicki warned of a social split. “Everyone only fights for himself.” When commentators called for him to be banned from talk shows for campaigning for fundamental rights, “then something is going wrong in this country”. He described the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, as “Saddam Hussein of the medical profession” because of his criticism of the FDP’s behavior.
Landtag SPD calls for quick help for showmen
Sunday, November 21, 11.46 a.m .: After the end of Christmas markets in Bavaria, the Landtag SPD is demanding quick and unbureaucratic help for market merchants and showmen. “If the aid does not come in the necessary hurry, Christmas markets as we know and appreciate them will be a thing of the past in many places,” said the local political spokesman for the parliamentary group, Klaus Adelt (SPD).
Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) announced that he would examine bridging aid in addition to federal funds. But that is not enough. “The liquidity bottlenecks are now there. You need immediate and unbureaucratic help and no test orders.” Many small and family-run companies are facing the shards of their existence, after two years of pandemic they have no more reserves. “Everything that was left was invested in the preparation, planning and implementation of the Christmas markets,” explained Adelt. “The stalls have been set up, the stand fees have been paid and the warehouses full.” Söder had announced the cancellation of the Christmas markets on Friday, which will apply from Wednesday. “We believe it leads to countless contacts, there is no effective control,” he said, explaining the decision.
District Administrator: Corona situation in the Freyung-Grafenau district catastrophic
Sunday, November 21, 10.13 a.m .: In view of the high number of corona infections, the situation in the Lower Bavarian district of Freyung-Grafenau is catastrophic, according to the local district administrator Sebastian Gruber (CSU). “Our clinics and intensive care capacities are close to collapse, there are already individual transfers to other government districts,” he said Bavarian Broadcasting (BR). The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a seven-day incidence of 1,651.5 (as of 3.12 a.m.) for the region on Sunday – a peak not only in Bavaria, but nationwide.
This could also be due to the low vaccination rate in the region, which Gruber states at around 57 percent – well below the Bavarian average of around 66 percent. The CSU politician reported of a rush for vaccinations, but it was mainly about booster and not about first vaccinations. “There is still room for improvement,” said Gruber.
He considers the tightened corona measures to be “absolutely necessary”. In fact, in hotspot regions with a seven-day incidence over 1000, even stricter rules apply than in other counties. Gruber said he thought a consistent line would make more sense.