Ethics Council boss Buyx: “We don’t need vaccinations”

France and Greece introduce it: compulsory vaccination for certain occupational groups. In Germany, demands for such a step are met with rejection – even the Chair of the Ethics Council does not consider this to be necessary.

The chairman of the German Ethics Council, Alena Buyx, considers compulsory corona vaccination for certain professional groups in Germany to be unnecessary. In the common morning magazine of ARD and ZDF pointed out to Buyx that the ethics council had stated very carefully that under certain circumstances one could think about such job-related, very narrowly limited vaccination obligations. “However, I would say that these circumstances do not apply at all,” she emphasized.

Firstly, there are other ways of protecting most vulnerable – i.e. particularly at risk – groups. “And: We have much better vaccination rates for the various occupational groups than, for example, in France,” said Buyx. “We have really great vaccination rates for health workers and teachers. That’s why I don’t think we need them at all.”

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday evening that health workers would be required to be vaccinated. Employees in hospitals and nursing homes now have until mid-September to get vaccinated. According to Health Minister Olivier Véran, unvaccinated health workers are no longer allowed to work and are no longer paid. Greece announced a similar move.

Also teacher president and SPD politician against compulsory vaccination

In Germany, the human geneticist Wolfram Henn, who is also a member of the Ethics Council, spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination for staff in daycare centers and schools on Monday. Buyx said that Henn spoke for himself, but not in contradiction to the work of the Ethics Council: “But we do not require something like that,” she said. Henn had received approval from the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, who also called for mandatory vaccinations for medical professions.

Teacher President Heinz-Peter Meidinger and the SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach spoke out against compulsory vaccination for teachers. Lauterbach emphasized that vaccination must be the voluntary decision of every individual. “This also applies to teachers and educators,” he told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. Meidinger pointed to a very high willingness to vaccinate teachers. The main risk of infection for children and adolescents is “not from adults and certainly not from teachers, but from their peers,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.

SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil also rejected a possible vaccination requirement. “I think compulsory vaccination in Germany is wrong, but we have to increase the willingness to vaccinate,” he told the broadcasters RTL and ntv. You now have to find creative ways to reach people and convince them that vaccination is the way out of the crisis.

Reinhardt for a more intensive vaccination campaign

The President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, also called for a more intensive corona vaccination campaign. This must reach everyone, he told the “Rheinische Post”. “I miss the TV commercial about the vaccination before the daily News.“Where the willingness to vaccinate has so far been low, information must be given directly on site.” We not only have to bring sports clubs, we have to bring cultural associations and religious institutions on board for the vaccination campaign. “It is important to reach people who are still undecided through consistent education be.

Reinhardt rejected a restriction of freedom rights for unvaccinated people. This would be tantamount to an indirect compulsory vaccination, which he believes is wrong. Not all those willing to vaccinate could have taken advantage of a vaccination offer so far.

Söder: “Strong encroachment on fundamental rights”

The federal government had repeatedly ruled out compulsory vaccination. The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder also spoke out against it. “I am against a compulsory vaccination,” he said Deutschlandfunk. This also applies to teachers or students, for example. He justified his rejection by stating that compulsory vaccination was a “strong encroachment on fundamental rights”.

In January, Söder had expressed himself somewhat differently. At that time he complained that there was “too high a refusal to vaccinate among nursing staff in old people’s and nursing homes”. The German Ethics Council should therefore make suggestions as to “whether and for which groups compulsory vaccination would be conceivable”.