Lauterbach promotes corona vaccinations: “I appeal to your common sense!”

Health Minister Lauterbach urged Corona vaccinations and a general compulsory vaccination in the Bundestag. The pandemic can only be overcome if enough people are protected.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has strongly promoted vaccinations in view of the sharp rise in the number of corona cases. Anyone who wants to get a booster vaccination can get one, said the SPD politician in the Bundestag. With the booster campaign it was possible to “make a steep hill out of the wall of the Omikron wave or at least to limit the height of the wall”. Now it is a matter of protecting yourself and others, relieving the burden on the clinics and thus also ensuring treatment for cancer and heart patients, for example.

Lauterbach appealed to those who had not been vaccinated so far to consider at least a first vaccination, because even a first vaccination could effectively protect against a severe course and death. “I therefore appeal to your common sense, to all those who have not been vaccinated, to your solidarity. With just a single vaccination, your risk of becoming fatally ill is significantly reduced,” said the minister. “Many of us are making great sacrifices to protect you. Please take the opportunity at least for the first vaccination!”

Compulsory vaccination “fastest way out of the pandemic”

Lauterbach regretted that there are still many unvaccinated people in Germany, especially among older people. “They in particular may be particularly at risk in the next few weeks from the swelling omicron wave,” he said. “On the basis of the studies available, it is negligent to deny that they are endangered.”

Lauterbach emphasized that the pandemic can only be overcome in the long term if enough people are vaccinated to protect them from new virus variants. “There are hardly any specialists in the scientific literature who assume that the Omicron variant will have been the last variant.” By adapting the vaccines, it can also be expected in the future that the vaccines will provide reliable protection against the course of severe disease. “Therefore, for me, the safest and fastest way out of the pandemic is to introduce a general compulsory vaccination.” The Bundestag should decide on the introduction of a compulsory vaccination – but this is not expected before March.

Germany has so far got through the pandemic better than other countries, according to Lauterbach, and this success now has to be continued in the Omikron wave. The applicable contact restrictions are also important for this. “This is a measure that has demanded numerous sacrifices from the citizens and continues to demand them,” Lauterbach admitted. “But with it we have succeeded in slowing down both the delta and the omicron wave, so that we do not yet have to complain about the high number of cases in our neighboring countries.” This prevented numerous deaths.

Criticism from the opposition

Several opposition politicians criticized Lauterbach for the government’s corona course. This is not a policy of the steady hand, but a “policy of falling asleep”, said the CDU MP Tino Sorge. He accused Lauterbach of “booming silence” on important questions, such as which primary goal should be achieved with mandatory vaccination or how the targeted 30 million additional vaccinations should be achieved by the end of January.

The AfD renewed its fundamental criticism of the existing corona measures and the new corona rules in the Bundestag. Health policy must finally focus on people’s health again, said MP Martin Sichert. “With 2G-Plus they equate the Bundestag with a pub and at the same time say that it is not a workplace, because 3G applies at the workplace.”