health and care facilities
Demands for the end of the corona vaccination obligation – Lauterbach still wants to wait and see
What happens next with the facility-related coronavirus vaccination requirement?
© Annette Riedl / DPA
Despite the continuing high number of infections, the discussion about a possible end to the obligation to vaccinate against the coronavirus in the health and care sector is picking up speed.
The calls not to extend the facility-related vaccination requirement in the health and care sector beyond the end of 2022 are getting louder. The Federal Care Agent, Claudia Moll, advocates not extending the statutory regulation, which expires at the end of the year. “I’ve always said that mandatory vaccination only makes sense if it applies to everyone. I don’t think picking out individual groups, some of which then understandably feel stigmatized, is a bad way to go,” said Moll of the “Rheinische Post”. From the perspective of the SPD politician, the sense of responsibility among the employees is already high.
Corona virus: compulsory vaccination on the brink?
The facility-related vaccination requirement has been in effect since mid-March. The health authorities can issue activity or entry bans for employees of clinics or care facilities if they do not present proof of vaccination or recovery when requested or do not have a certificate that exempts them from a corona vaccination. The legal basis for compulsory vaccination expires at the end of the year.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) recently left open whether it will expire or be extended. “We will make it dependent on the course of the autumn and winter wave how we deal with the facility-related vaccination requirement,” he said in the Bundestag.
Patient advocates do not want an extension. “The Federal Minister of Health must finally bury the institution-related vaccination requirement on December 31,” said Eugen Brysch, the board member of the Patient Protection Foundation, of the “Rheinische Post”. A nationwide, daily test regime is the way to live with Corona in the care of the elderly and sick, emphasized Brysch.
A few days ago, Saxony, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia had called for an end to compulsory vaccination for health and care staff.