Corona pandemic: Much dissent on the subject of compulsory vaccination

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder wants to suspend compulsory vaccination for nursing staff – probably for months. The SPD rejects Merz’s proposal for a general obligation to vaccinate in advance. There is still a lot that needs to be clarified when it comes to the question of compulsory vaccination.

According to Prime Minister Markus Söder, Bavaria does not want to implement the corona vaccination requirement for healthcare workers until further notice. This should actually take effect from March 15th. The partial vaccination requirement is not a suitable means of breaking the current omicron wave, but it can create significant problems if unvaccinated nurses quit, said Söder.

“That’s why we will apply the most generous transitional regulations in enforcement.” This amounts to de facto “a suspension of enforcement”. “For how many months will we see then,” he added – at least for a while, “to make the whole thing sensible”.

Basically, Söder again pleaded for a general corona vaccination – he very much hopes that there will be a “wise decision” here.

SPD criticizes Merz for “Vaccination Prevention Act”

The SPD in the Bundestag sharply rejected the idea of ​​​​CDU leader Friedrich Merz to prepare a general vaccination requirement only for “stocks” for future waves. “Merz maneuvers on the subject of vaccination. His proposals have no substance,” said SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. In the SPD, Wiese is leading the way in the spirit of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, preparing a general obligation to vaccinate.

Merz does not want to support any of the proposals for compulsory vaccination that have been put forward by parliament; instead, he advocated a so-called Vaccination Prevention Act.

Wiese: “Catastrophe with announcement”

Wiese said that wanting to create a vaccination requirement in stock, which would only be activated when the next wave of infections started, was “a disaster with an announcement”. “Then we will have freedom restrictions again in the fall, which nobody wants anymore.”

Merz also contradicts the specifications of its own prime ministers.

So far, MPs have been considering three models: compulsory vaccination for everyone over the age of 18, a requirement only for people over the age of 50 and the rejection of compulsory vaccination. There should not be a government draft.

Pharmacies in NRW have been vaccinating since today

In the meantime, one day before the nationwide deadline on February 8th, the pharmacies in North Rhine-Westphalia have started with corona vaccinations.

At the federal level, the way was paved in December for doctors, pharmacists, dentists and veterinarians to be allowed to vaccinate against corona for a limited period of time.

Prerequisites are training and suitable premises or integration into mobile vaccination teams. The chairman of the North Rhine pharmacists’ association, Thomas Preis, reported that there was a surprisingly lively demand from those who wanted to be vaccinated at the start of the vaccination.