Corona pandemic
Traffic lights do not agree on mandatory vaccinations – Greens: Are advised on certain areas
Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt
© John MACDOUGALL / AFP
Will vaccination be compulsory for certain areas soon? The traffic light parties are unanimous on this issue, said Green Party leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt. The denial follows later.
The possible future government partners SPD, Greens and FDP want to talk about compulsory corona vaccination for certain areas, according to the Greens. “The traffic light will only be advised about mandatory vaccination in special facilities in its own procedure, regardless of the Infection Protection Act,” said a spokeswoman for the parliamentary group on Monday for the German press agency in Berlin.
Göring-Eckardt first spoke of compulsory vaccinations in nursing homes and daycare centers
Before that, Green Party leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt had said: “We will need a compulsory vaccination for facilities, in nursing homes, in day-care centers, etc. We will get this off the ground,” said Göring-Eckardt on Monday in Berlin. When asked, she had confirmed that the members of the desired traffic light coalition were in agreement on this issue. According to later information from the Greens, this is not the case. A possible vaccination requirement for certain areas would not be part of the reform of the Infection Protection Act, which is to be passed this week, but a separate legislative process, explained Göring-Eckardt.
The corona situation is highly dramatic, said Göring-Eckardt. It is now a matter of building a “protective wall” for children and young people as well as other particularly vulnerable groups and with a view to the situation in the hospitals. The legislative reform agreed between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP is a better answer than an extension of the epidemic situation, said the parliamentary group leader. The epidemic situation gives the federal government extensive competencies in fighting pandemics and expires at the end of November.
“Do not have to close any shops” – neither do restaurants
“These will not be the last measures that we have to take,” announced Goering-Eckardt. Business closings, such as the one that occurred in previous waves, are unnecessary, according to Göring-Eckardt. “We don’t have to close shops, the virologists tell us that too.” Restaurants could stay open as long as they had enough space.
The outgoing black and red federal government accused Göring-Eckardt of negligence. “We have known since the beginning of September that the booster, that the third vaccination is necessary, nothing has been prepared for it.”
The now planned obligation to prove a vaccination, a survived corona infection or a negative test in local and long-distance public transport should not be checked across the board when boarding the train, but also selectively checked like ticket possession. Contact restrictions should apply to those who have not been vaccinated. If the vaccination protection of larger groups declines, one may have to rethink, said Göring-Eckardt.
Note: In an earlier version of this report it was stated that the traffic light parties were in agreement on the vaccination light in individual areas. We apologize for any inconvenience.