The application has three stages
Union wants vaccination mechanism instead of compulsory vaccination
02/11/2022 10:31 am
The parliamentary group of the CDU/CSU submits an application for vaccination requirements: It does not demand general vaccination, but a “mechanism” for certain groups. Similar to the “pandemic situation”, this would be determined and activated by the Bundestag. However, many questions remain unanswered.
The Union faction in the Bundestag has drawn up its own proposal for a possible compulsory vaccination. In the application, which is available to ntv.de, according to the so-called Vaccination Prevention Act, there should be a “vaccination mechanism” graded according to groups of people, which, however, will only take effect if the corona situation continues to worsen. The criteria for when the staggered obligation to vaccinate should take effect are still unclear.
Among other things, the application mentions the expected severity of the virus variant, its transmissibility and the extent of the immunity of the population. The details should then be formulated in a possible law, it is said. The Union faction then proposes three stages for vaccination: First, all people over the age of 60 should be vaccinated. The second stage then affects people over the age of 50. Then it is the turn of employees in critical infrastructure and employees in schools and daycare centers.
The application of the Union faction does not speak of a vaccination requirement, but of a vaccination mechanism. If necessary, this should be activated by the Bundestag, similar to what happened before with the “determination of the epidemic situation of national importance”. The Bundestag should then also clarify for which of the groups mentioned the vaccination mechanism applies, i.e. which stage is now active.
The amount of the penalties for those who do not want to be vaccinated is unclear
To implement the Union calls for a vaccination register. This should be set up in a position with a high level of expertise and credibility. However, it remains unclear which position is meant by this. In the traffic light coalition, a vaccination register is controversial due to data protection concerns. According to the report, the Union’s application also remains vague when it comes to sanctions for those who have not been vaccinated. Anyone who refuses to be vaccinated despite being legally obliged to do so should pay a fine. How much that will be is still unclear.
In the past few months and weeks, the Union had initially campaigned strongly for a general obligation to vaccinate. However, the application now says that compulsory vaccination from the age of 18 would no longer curb the current omicron wave. In addition, it requires a lot of justification.
The federal government is not planning its own draft law on compulsory vaccination, which has brought criticism not only from the Union. However, individual MPs, groups of parliamentarians or individual parliamentary groups can submit motions. Voting should be free of the guidelines of the parliamentary group. So far, only the AfD parliamentary group has submitted its own application. He completely rejects the obligation to vaccinate. A group led by the FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki has also positioned itself clearly against compulsory vaccination. An application for mandatory vaccination from the age of 18 is also in the works, which is supported, among others, by the health expert of the Greens, Janosch Dahmen.