Debate about compulsory corona vaccination: Scholz hopes for quick advice

Status: January 12, 2022 2:24 p.m.

Chancellor Scholz has advocated compulsory corona vaccination for adults in the Bundestag: “I consider it necessary and will actively work for it.” If you don’t get vaccinated, it has consequences for the whole country.

When he first appeared in the Bundestag’s Question Time, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for the rapid introduction of a general compulsory vaccination against the coronavirus. The decision to vaccinate is “not a decision that you make for yourself, and that is why compulsory vaccination is also the right one,” said Scholz. The vaccination helps to limit further infections with the dangerous virus – and thus to protect “80 million fellow citizens”.

Not to be vaccinated is not a personal decision, but has consequences for the whole country. Most recently, hospitals had to cancel operations to make room for the many corona patients.

“I will actively work for it”

“I hope that there will be prompt, good advice with a corresponding result,” said Scholz, referring to the debate on mandatory vaccination. “In any case, I think it is necessary and will actively work for it.” It is expressly only a matter of compulsory vaccination for adults.

Scholz rated it as a success of the rulers that the highly contagious Omikron variant has so far spread less widely in Germany than in other countries. This is “also due to the clear, far-reaching measures that we have defined,” said Scholz. However, the number of infections will continue to grow, said the Chancellor – and referred to the new maximum number of infections recorded by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

“Pacifying the Political Discussion”

The Chancellor defended his government’s policy of not submitting its own legislative proposal on compulsory vaccination. The Bundestag should work out the regulation in an “open debate”. This contributes to the “pacification of the political discussion” and is an example of “democratic leadership”.

Previous measures have the “desired effect”

With a view to the previous measures of the traffic light government in the fight against the current corona wave, Scholz said that these had “the desired effect”. The infection process associated with the new Omikron variant was recorded in Germany “in a completely different way than elsewhere up to now”. This is “also due to the clear, far-reaching measures that we have defined here.”

Decisions have been prepared “that have resulted in Germany continuing its path through the pandemic with great clarity,” said Scholz. This included very far-reaching contact restrictions that went further than in almost any other country in the European Union.

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