Status: 02/13/2022 12:17 p.m
In four weeks, the vaccination requirement in the healthcare system should take effect. Interior Minister Faeser emphasizes that this federal regulation must be implemented everywhere – including in Bavaria. The debate about compulsory vaccination continues.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has asked Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder to implement compulsory corona vaccination in health facilities. “The obligation to vaccinate in clinics and nursing homes is a federal regulation that Markus Söder himself helped to decide in the Federal Council,” said Faeser of the “Bild am Sonntag”. “I expect Mr. Söder to implement the vaccination requirement.”
She will demand federal law, said the SPD politician. “I can’t imagine Mr. Söder questioning the basic principles of our constitution. The Basic Law also applies in Bavaria.”
Partial vaccination planned from March 15th
Söder had announced that it would not implement the facility-related vaccination requirement in Bavaria for the time being. It cannot be implemented in its current form, and the federal government must improve it. He later added that Bavaria would comply with federal law. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer had called for the partial vaccination requirement to be postponed by a few months.
The regulation stipulates that employees in nursing homes and clinics must submit proof of being vaccinated or recovered by March 15th – or a certificate that they cannot be vaccinated.
Frei sees no parliamentary majority for compulsory vaccination
The President of the Professional Association of Pediatricians, Thomas Fischbach, told the “Ärzte-Zeitung” that the announcements that the regulation would not initially be enforced were “highly irresponsible”. In principle, compulsory vaccination for individual professional groups is not enough to end the pandemic. “We need general vaccination.” Too many over 60-year-olds are still without full vaccination protection. In addition, there would be “stoic vaccination refusers”.
The parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, sees no parliamentary majority for a general vaccination requirement from the age of 18. “Scholz’s idea of mandatory vaccination for everyone will certainly not find a majority in the Bundestag,” said the CDU politician to “Bild am Sonntag”.
FDP application is still pending
It is uncertain whether parliament will debate the group motions for general compulsory vaccination next week, as initially planned, as the motion by the group around FDP MP Andrew Ullmann is still missing. This strives for an obligation to provide advice and, if necessary, an obligation to vaccinate from the age of 50. The application should be submitted in the new week, Ullmann told the “Bild am Sonntag”. A consultation in the same week would not be fair, he pointed out.
So far, there have been cross-party applications for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18 and against compulsory vaccination. The Union, in turn, wants a vaccination law that only provides for the possibility of introducing compulsory vaccination later in emergencies.