Debate about compulsory vaccination: not helpful at the moment, but in the long term?

In the current situation, from the point of view of the prospective Federal Minister of Justice, Buschmann, compulsory vaccination is of little help. Green politician Göring-Eckardt is still calling for them – and is counting on the long-term effect.

The designated Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann does not rule out the introduction of a general corona vaccination obligation in the long term. “In a dynamic situation, when you are dealing with such a disease, you cannot categorically exclude anything for all time,” said Buschmann in the ARD morning magazine. However, this topic is not on the agenda. In the current crisis situation, a general compulsory vaccination would “not help”, according to the FDP politician.

He thinks it is “right and wise” “that we are now tackling the issue of facility-related mandatory vaccination,” said Buschmann. The parliamentary managing director of the FDP, who is to take over the justice ministry in the new federal cabinet under Olaf Scholz, referred at the same time to “difficult questions” regarding the feasibility and organization of a general vaccination requirement.

The traffic light parties are planning to make vaccination compulsory in old people’s and nursing homes, and the planned coalition wants to examine an expansion of the compulsory vaccination. FDP representatives had repeatedly expressed skepticism about a possible general corona vaccination requirement.

Göring-Eckardt: Compulsory vaccination helps in the long term

The chairman of the Greens parliamentary group, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, sees a general obligation to vaccinate in view of the corona pandemic a relief in the fight against the disease in the future. in the ARD morning magazine she said, “Compulsory vaccination doesn’t help us now, but it will help us not get from one lockdown to the next later.” It is a serious operation, but she does not shy away from it.

What is helping against the corona wave at the moment are the 2G and 3G rules, according to the Green politician. This can be seen, for example, from the fact that the queues at the vaccination facilities are extremely long.

Employers open to compulsory vaccination

Employer President Rainer Dulger was also open to a general vaccination requirement. “We rely on dialogue and conviction. Therefore, a statutory vaccination obligation is always only the second-best solution. It must not be excluded from the outset,” said the chairman of the BDA employers’ association of the “Rheinische Post”.

The employers are ready to “play a constructive part in intensifying vaccination,” said Dulger. What is necessary for this is “a clear statement from politics instead of constantly changing rules”. Effective vaccinations and continuous testing are the most important tools to get out of the pandemic. Especially for employees who work with endangered groups of people, the willingness to be vaccinated is a “sign of a sense of duty and consideration for their fellow human beings”.

“Minority must bow to majority”

Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, like his Prime Minister Markus Söder, spoke out in favor of a general vaccination requirement – under one condition: “If we cannot achieve the necessary vaccination quota on a voluntary basis, then a vaccination requirement is the only way up to now,” said the minister of the ” New Osnabrück Newspaper “. “When I think back to my childhood, it was taken for granted that parents were obliged to have their children vaccinated against smallpox and polio.”

There were also critics back then, but they ultimately accepted the requirement. Even in the corona pandemic, the minority ultimately has to bow to the majority. In a democracy, of course, minorities should fight for their rights. “But one thing seems to be forgotten: At the end of the day a majority decides in a democracy. And the minority has to accept this decision,” emphasized the CSU politician. That belongs to the foundations of the republic and the democratic constitutional state.