Debate about compulsory vaccination: Kubicki hopes for supporters

Opinions about compulsory vaccination differ widely in the traffic light coalition, but also in the Union. After the FDP application became known, Party Vice Kubicki is now hoping for help from other parties.

Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. That is the strategy of the new federal government in the fight against Corona. SPD Health Minister Karl Lauterbach speaks of vaccinating and boosting until the pandemic is over.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke out a good week ago in the ARD pronounced for a general compulsory vaccination: “My view of things is that we have a very high vaccination rate, but one that is not high enough.” That’s why he changed his mind about mandatory vaccinations, said Scholz.

22 FDP MPs against

In order to make the change of course bearable, especially for the coalition partner FDP, the Bundestag should not decide the issue along the party lines. A vaccination requirement as a question of conscience.

22 FDP MPs have now made the mark – with a draft application that rejects a general vaccination requirement. The paper suits him ARD-Capital studio before. It says: “The Bundestag cannot decide on a general vaccination requirement as long as it does not even know the frequency of the mandatory vaccinations.”

Kubicki hopes for other parties

The signatories include the FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, the former general secretary Linda Teuteberg and party deputy chief Wolfgang Kubicki: “We could discuss differently if the vaccination would induce sterile immunity like measles or smallpox,” says Kubicki on RTL . “But that’s not the case. People like me who are over 60 will in all probability have to get vaccinated every four months in order to maintain vaccination protection.”

Kubicki expresses the expectation that MPs from other parties will also join the group proposal. Problem for the traffic light parties: Due to the agreed procedure, Scholz’s desire for mandatory vaccination may not find its own majority in the government parliamentary groups.

CDU: chaos in corona politics

The CDU health expert Tino Sorge speaks of chaos in Corona politics: “To say now that you cannot agree within the coalition on such an important topic that 20 MPs leave and submit their own application, that is evidence not exactly of the ability to govern. “

However, there are contradicting voices even within the Union. Bavaria’s CSU Prime Minister Markus Söder recently called the vaccination requirement the only chance to get out of the corona endless loop. Ex-CDU health minister Jens Spahn considers a general vaccination requirement to be difficult to implement.

Another problem: So far, the categorical announcement has been made that there will be no compulsory vaccination. Some citizens therefore regard a U-turn as a breach of word.

Dürr: First of all, continue with the booster campaign

The subject is not suitable for simple and quick answers, says FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr: “I would advise the Union at this point not to make any party politics out of it. In Germany we currently have a good willingness to vaccinate. The booster campaign that we do in Germany is the most successful in Europe. We should carry on with that for now. “

In the SPD and the Greens, there should be a large majority in favor of compulsory vaccination. For the FDP it is therefore also about saving face. While party leader Lindner – like Chancellor Scholz – now tends to require vaccinations, the FDP MPs around Kubicki emphasize their basic conviction that the injection must be a free decision. Even if Kubicki expects a majority for compulsory vaccination in the Bundestag.

FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr still has one hope: that the vaccination campaign in the coming weeks will be such a great success that one can get by without compulsory vaccination.