“Basta policy will fail”
Patient advocates accuse Lauterbach of failure
02/01/2022, 6:20 p.m
The vaccination requirement in the health sector should apply from March 15th. How it is to be implemented in concrete terms is currently only certain in theory. Patient advocate Brysch criticizes Minister of Health Lauterbach for ignoring the problems with implementation. The CDU is also demanding answers.
The German Foundation for Patient Protection has accused Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach of failure to vaccinate in health and care facilities. The new regulation would “ignore the enforcement problems of health authorities, regulatory authorities and employers,” said Eugen Brysch, board member of the foundation. “Even more devastating is that Karl Lauterbach is jeopardizing the care of up to 200,000 people in need of care and the sick. A basta policy will fail.”
Anyone who works in a health or care facility must prove by March 15 that they have recovered or have been vaccinated. If he does not do this, the respective employer must report this to the responsible health authority. The Federal Ministry of Health pointed out that the health authorities would have to decide on how to proceed in each individual case. The statements by the ministry are “by no means reassuring,” said Brysch. In any case, the law does not say “that all unvaccinated people must be released on March 16”.
The Union asked Lauterbach to clarify the open questions. The federal government should “not duck away and leave employers alone with the problem,” said parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ). “It turns out that a number of difficult questions arise in connection with area-specific vaccination requirements.” The federal government must finally clarify this, Frei demanded.