Corona situation
“We have to get closer to mandatory vaccination”: Lauterbach calls for tougher steps against unvaccinated people
Health expert Karl Lauterbach (SPD) at a Bundestag session last week
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
Will Germany get the corona situation under control again without compulsory vaccination? Science and politics argue about this. SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach clearly tends to one side.
In view of the dramatic corona situation, the debate about a general vaccination requirement is gaining momentum. One must start to think about it, demanded the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach on Sunday evening in the program “The right questions” of the TV channel Bild. “I would definitely no longer rule that out and tend to say: This does not help us acutely, but we have to get closer to compulsory vaccination.”
Lauterbach argued: “Without compulsory vaccination we obviously won’t get the vaccination quota we need to make ends meet with the strength of the vaccines we have and the R-value of the delta variant.” The R value indicates how many people an infected person infects on average – and thus how quickly a virus spreads.
“Consider compulsory vaccination unconstitutional”
The deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Michael Theurer said on the other hand in the picture broadcast about a general vaccination requirement: “We consider it unconstitutional.” The deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, was also very skeptical. A general compulsory vaccination should “because of the serious interference with the right to physical integrity under the current framework conditions also be disproportionate and thus unconstitutional,” he told the “Welt”.
According to the professional association of paediatricians, the President of the German Child Protection Association, Heinz Hilgers, also spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination for adults – if the vaccination rate does not increase significantly by spring. “Personally, I am in favor of advising about mandatory vaccination for adults and then deciding on it in the spring if the vaccination rate remains so low,” said Hilgers to the editorial network in Germany. “That would protect the children too.” Freedom demands responsibility. “And if this responsibility is not taken, then we need a compulsory vaccination.”
Most recently, several Union representatives had shown themselves to be open to compulsory vaccination, including the Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CSU) and Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU).
“Nobody would like to be vaccinated”
The President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, expressed himself deliberately. The compulsory vaccination is “a means, and I am completely with the (World Health Organization) WHO, which we all do not want,” he said on Sunday evening in the “Today Journal” of the ZDF. “There is really no one who would like to be vaccinated. (…) But if you have tried everything else, the WHO says: Then you have to think about compulsory vaccination.”
The background to the debate is that experts believe that the vaccination rate in Germany is too low. Recently, however, the vaccination rate has increased again, and demand has increased especially for booster vaccinations. The infection situation has worsened dramatically in the past few weeks, most recently new highs in the seven-day incidence were reached every day.
“Corona numbers are increasing so intensely”
The Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans does not consider a discussion about a general vaccination requirement to be sensible at this point in time. “Compulsory vaccination is not the debate we need now,” said the CDU politician on Sunday evening on the ARD program “Anne Will”. “Now I really ask you to concentrate all your strength on the vaccination.” Now is a time “when the numbers are rising so intensely, where I can convince people to get vaccinated because they also notice that they are losing their freedom,” said Hans. “The incentives have never been greater than now.”
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) spoke to “Anne Will” in favor of clarifying before Christmas how mandatory vaccination can be implemented in certain facilities in a legally secure manner. “And then a debate will go on, but in that order.” The federal states had asked the federal government to introduce compulsory vaccination in certain facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes for everyone who has contact with people who are particularly at risk.
Clear law for compulsory corona vaccination in care
The President of the German Nursing Council, Christine Vogler, called for a clear legal requirement in the event of a mandatory vaccination in nursing homes, “that nursing homes may terminate unvaccinated employees”. “If the legislature demands that only vaccinated and convalescent people are allowed to work in nursing homes, the institutions have no choice but to separate themselves from these employees,” she told the editorial network in Germany. “Anyone who becomes the gateway for Corona in the nursing home simply cannot work there.”
From this Monday on, stricter rules to combat the pandemic will apply in Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, among others. Large parts of public life are restricted in Saxony, which is particularly hard hit. Except for the libraries, all cultural and leisure facilities, bars, clubs and discos will remain closed. There are no restrictions for basic service businesses. In addition, additional exit restrictions for unvaccinated people apply in Saxon corona hotspots. As soon as the weekly incidence in the respective district is over 1000, they are no longer allowed to go outside the door between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. without good reason.
Lockdown in several counties
In Baden-Württemberg, from Monday onwards, unvaccinated people in the Schwarzwald-Baar district, in the Ostalb district and in the Biberach district between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. are only allowed to leave their homes for valid reasons. In Schleswig-Holstein a new state ordinance takes effect: 2G applies to leisure events indoors, i.e. access only for vaccinated and convalescent people.