After failure to vaccinate
Lauterbach is planning a new vaccination campaign
04/08/2022 10:26 am
On Thursday, the Bundestag rejected compulsory vaccination. Health Minister Lauterbach now wants to start a new vaccination campaign instead to prevent rising numbers of corona infections in autumn. The Infection Protection Act must also be “tackled again,” he says.
After the failure of the Corona vaccination requirement in the Bundestag, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach wants to start a new vaccination campaign. “We must once again target a really effective vaccination campaign at those who have not yet been vaccinated but are in principle ready,” said Lauterbach on Deutschlandfunk. You know that there is such a group, especially people with a migration background. “They have to be achieved, we mustn’t give up. By the way, we also have to advertise more creatively. We’re preparing something right now.”
The Bundestag had voted against compulsory vaccination on Thursday. Lauterbach therefore no longer sees the possibility of further easing. “We have now made the loosening that can be done, but we have reached the end of the road,” he said. “If we had managed to make vaccination compulsory, there would have been much more room for relaxation in the fall.”
While Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a clear rejection of a second attempt at compulsory vaccination on Thursday, Health Minister Lauterbach was more cautious. You always have to be open to talks, he said. He only shares Scholz’s skepticism that no agreement will be reached with the Union. For their part, the CDU and CSU had pointed out that their concept of compulsory vaccination could be implemented in autumn if the pandemic situation required it. However, the Union had called for the prior establishment of a vaccination register, which will not come now.
First of all, Lauterbach wants to “tackle the Infection Protection Act again”. The traffic light coalition had just relaxed that. The slimmed-down catalog of measures for states and municipalities is valid until September 23. This time you have to think about another change early on, Lauterbach demanded. He expects the number of corona infections to rise again in autumn.