Live blog
Status: 11/22/2021 2:59 a.m.
A mask requirement in schools is necessary the entire winter, so the SPD politician. The Union parliamentary group continues to reject a general compulsory vaccination. The current developments in the live blog.
01:06 am
Doctors warn of pressure on children with Covid vaccinations
A few days before the expected decision on EU-wide approval of the BioNTech vaccine for the age group of five to eleven year olds, doctors warn of increasing pressure on children in the pandemic. “We hardly have any children who get Covid, we hardly ever have severe courses or deaths. In this respect there is no reason to pace up here,” says Jakob Maske from the pediatricians’ association, the newspapers of the “Funke Mediengruppe”. According to Maske, the German paediatricians want to wait for a corresponding recommendation from the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) after an EU-wide approval of the vaccine for children aged five and over. This is true, “even if politicians are likely to speak out in favor of vaccinations earlier this time as well.” A Stiko recommendation means “that the benefit of the vaccination is greater than the risk. As doctors, we want to be able to tell parents that too. We want children to have a safe vaccination.”
12:26 am
Nursing advice for dismissal of unvaccinated employees in care homes
The German Nursing Council has spoken out in favor of unvaccinated employees being dismissed in the event of the introduction of a corona vaccination requirement in nursing homes. Should the legislature stipulate that only vaccinated and convalescent people are allowed to work in nursing homes, “the facilities have no choice but to separate themselves from these employees,” said Nursing Council President Christine Vogler of the editorial network Germany. “Anyone who becomes the gateway for Corona in the nursing home simply cannot work there,” emphasized Vogler. The legislature must therefore clearly stipulate that care facilities may terminate unvaccinated employees. The Care Council is the umbrella organization of associations in the care sector. At the Prime Minister’s Conference on Thursday, the top representatives of the federal states asked the federal government to introduce compulsory vaccinations for staff in nursing homes “as soon as possible”.
12:12 am
Lauterbach considers it necessary to wear a mask at schools throughout the winter
The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach believes that a mask requirement in schools is likely to be necessary for the entire winter. In his assessment, the probability is “very low” that the mask requirement at schools will no longer be needed in the winter months due to the further course of the corona pandemic, Lauterbach told the “editorial network Germany” in a podcast interview published on Monday. The SPD politician and doctor harshly criticized the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) for lifting the mask requirement in schools. This decision was “irresponsible”: “A lot of children were infected. That was completely unnecessary.” Lauterbach warned of the long-term effects of Covid diseases in children: It is to be expected that around four to seven percent of infected children with Covid-19 symptoms will develop what is known as Long Covid. Fortunately, Long Covid is not as serious in children as it is in adults, but it is also not a minor matter. It leads, for example, to the fact that children “can consistently have difficulties concentrating,” said the SPD politician. There will be children who are “no longer as energetic and not as good at school” after a Covid disease as they were before.
00:01 am
Union rejects compulsory vaccination – “Might be unconstitutional”
The Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag opposes a general compulsory corona vaccination. “I am very skeptical of a general compulsory vaccination in the sense of a compulsory vaccination,” says the deputy Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei (CDU) of the newspaper “Welt”. It is likely “because of the serious interference with the right to physical integrity under the current framework conditions also disproportionate and thus unconstitutional”. With reference to particularly vulnerable groups, however, he could certainly imagine area-specific vaccination verification obligations under strict observance of the principle of proportionality, analogous to the mandatory measles vaccination for caregivers. The SPD, in the words of vice parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese, believes that a facility-related vaccination requirement is possible, while the AfD rejects any form of mandatory vaccination.