Coronavirus
Vaccination refusals in the Bundeswehr face severe consequences
Corona vaccination is compulsory for soldiers in the Bundeswehr
© Marijan Murat / DPA
For soldiers, vaccination against Corona is mandatory as the first professional group. Anyone who stubbornly withdraws from this will be sanctioned. Disciplinary punishments, arrest – and dismissals without notice are in the room.
The military leadership of the Bundeswehr wants to strictly enforce the newly introduced corona vaccination requirement: Those who refuse a vaccination without good medical reason face severe penalties. This emerges from a letter from Army Inspector Alfons Mais, which is available to the German Press Agency. Functionality and readiness for action would also have to be maintained with a view to providing help in the pandemic. Complete protection of unvaccinated women and men should be established “as soon as possible”.
After months of discussions, the Ministry of Defense made the corona vaccination for the more than 180,000 soldiers “subject to tolerance” last week. It now belongs to the so-called basic vaccination schedule. Vaccination thus becomes a requirement in a first professional group – with the Soldiers Act as the basis.
“When implementing these orders, care must be taken that there is no stigmatization or exclusion of previously unvaccinated soldiers in order to preserve the inner structure in our ranks,” wrote Mais to the “Gentlemen Generals”. “Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that individual soldiers will not comply with the obligation to tolerate the Covid-19 vaccination and will not follow the corresponding orders.”
Mais refers to a judgment of the Federal Administrative Court from December last year, according to which the obligation to tolerate is not objectionable. It was about a soldier who had resisted eight days of disciplinary arrest for refusing to be vaccinated. The court also stated that, above all, repeated refusal to give orders is a military offense – which is punished with a reduction in salary, a ban on promotion or a reduction in rank.
“The obligation to tolerate is a military peculiarity. It means that soldiers are obliged to vaccinations, the use of which is recommended by the relevant specialist societies to avoid certain infectious diseases,” explained a ministry spokesman. This is anchored in the Soldiers Act. The obligation to tolerate is a “pillar for maintaining the leadership ability and operational readiness of the Bundeswehr”.
Initially strong criticism of the corona vaccination requirement
In the Bundeswehr, the bodies involved were initially up against the mandatory corona vaccinations, although a whole series of other vaccinations are required – against some less dangerous or less contagious diseases. An arbitration committee then voted in favor. Overall, the proportion of vaccinated soldiers, at more than 80 percent, is already higher than in the entire population, according to the Bundeswehr. There is still no exact number of those who refused to be vaccinated.
In cases “in which soldiers do not comply with the duty to tolerate and the orders given to them”, he considers preliminary investigations with the aim of judicial disciplinary proceedings to be ultimately unavoidable, writes Army Inspector Mais. For regular soldiers up to the end of their fourth year of service and for those doing voluntary military service, dismissal without notice is advisable. Otherwise there is a “serious threat to the military order or the security of the troops”.