Coronavirus pandemic: compulsory vaccination – suddenly conceivable?

Excluded for a long time, it is increasingly moving into the realm of the possible: compulsory vaccination. More and more politicians are no longer excluding them – also to protect unvaccinated children.

The fourth corona wave hits Germany with full force. While Austria has decided to make vaccinations compulsory from February onwards, there are increasing voices in German politics to slow down the wave with mandatory vaccinations. There are strong constitutional concerns, but also very practical objections.

In the Union in particular, the voices for a general vaccination requirement are getting louder and louder. Most recently, several representatives had openly expressed themselves in favor of compulsory vaccination, including the Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther and Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder.

Bavaria’s Minister of Health, Klaus Holetschek, can also imagine a general vaccination requirement in view of the rapidly increasing corona numbers. “I was always actually an opponent of compulsory vaccination”, he said in the Deutschlandfunk. But he now believes “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.

More and more advocates for general vaccination

The SPD parliamentary group wants to discuss the pros and cons of mandatory vaccination with scientists such as virologist Christian Drosten in an internal video conference. One must start thinking about compulsory vaccinations, demanded about the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach in the TV offshoot of “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.”

Even the health expert of the Greens in the Bundestag, Janosch Dahmen, does not want to rule out the debate about a possible vaccination requirement in Germany with increasing numbers of infections. “If we make ourselves honest and say: we want to get rid of this pandemic and it cannot go on like this – if we do not take other measures to achieve a sufficient vaccination quota in Germany, we will not be able to avoid this debate,” he said in the ARD morning magazine.“In this respect, I think it is dishonest to rule that out in principle.”

RKI boss sees compulsory vaccination as a last resort

The background to the debate about mandatory corona vaccinations is that the vaccination rate in Germany is still too low from the perspective of experts. Recently, however, the vaccination rate has increased again, and demand has increased especially for booster vaccinations.

The President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, made a deliberate statement in the debate. The compulsory vaccination is “a means, and I am completely with the WHO, which we all do not want,” he said on ZDF. “There is really no one who would like to have a mandatory vaccination,” said the RKI boss. “But if you’ve tried everything else, the WHO says: Then you have to think about compulsory vaccination.”

The deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Michael Theurer said on the other hand in the “Bild” 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 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”.

Lauterbach considers it necessary to wear a mask

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. Demands for a comparable compulsory vaccination, at least for employees in schools and daycare centers, are being discussed critically – in order to protect unvaccinated children from infections and at the same time prevent school closings.

“The compulsory vaccination in old people’s homes is correct because it protects particularly vulnerable people. But it would not be absolutely necessary in schools because the children and adolescents are not likely to be hit as badly by a Covid 19 infection,” said SPD politician Lauterbach “Rheinische Post”. In a podcast interview, he told the editorial network Germany that the mask requirement for schoolchildren is likely to be necessary throughout the winter.

Federal student conference criticizes unvaccinated teachers

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 on compulsory vaccination for adults and then deciding on it in the spring if the vaccination rate remains so low,” Hilgers told the editorial network in Germany. “That would also protect children.” Freedom requires responsibility. “And if this responsibility is not taken, then we need a compulsory vaccination. “

SPD leader Saskia Esken appealed to parents to test their children regularly and to stick to the mask requirement, even if it was a nuisance. The discipline of adults when following corona protective measures is now in demand, she told the “Rheinische Post”, after “families, children and young people have had to forego reliable care, full-fledged educational offers and much more for many months”.

The Federal Schoolchildren’s Conference criticized teachers who refuse to have a corona vaccination. Teachers have “a responsibility to their environment and especially to the students they meet in class,” said the general secretary of the conference, Katharina Swinka, to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

BioNTech vaccination for children

So far, no corona vaccine has been approved for children under the age of twelve in the European Union. A decision by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the approval of the BioNTech vaccine for children aged five to eleven is expected in a few days. In the United States, more than two million children in this age group have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

An evaluation published in the “New England Journal of Medicine” on the study by BioNTech / Pfizer on vaccinations of children with their corona preparation recognized “a favorable safety profile”; in addition, “no serious vaccination-related side effects were observed”. Only “mild and temporary reactions” such as fever, pain at the puncture, fatigue or headache were observed. The vaccination was safe and effective, was the conclusion.

STIKO decision still in November?

Pediatricians in Germany want to wait for the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) first. “It would not be advisable for politicians to recommend vaccination as long as there is no recommendation from the committee that advises politicians,” said the spokesman for the professional association of paediatricians, Jakob Maske. Of course, the number of infections increased and with it the pressure to take all possible countermeasures. “But politics shouldn’t put unnecessary pressure on parents and children again.”

Mask did not expect a STIKO decision until next year. A recommendation could come sooner for children with previous illnesses and critically ill relatives. According to STIKO member Fred Zepp, the committee will be advising “promptly in the next few weeks”. A decision could be made in November, depending on the date of approval, said the pediatrician of the dpa news agency.