Friday 17th December 2021
Better consistently 2G
Merz currently thinks little of compulsory vaccinations
From March, employees in clinics and nursing homes must be vaccinated, as the Bundestag has already determined. Such a regulation is also conceivable for civil servants, such as teachers and the police, says the Greens health expert. Friedrich Merz is skeptical about a general compulsory vaccination.
CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has rejected a general vaccination requirement. “We should first clarify whether there are simpler, better, more proportionate means to get a significantly higher vaccination rate,” said Merz to the newspapers of the Funke media group. With a consistent application of the 2G rule, this goal could “possibly” also be achieved.
In addition, he had great doubts about the implementation. “How is compulsory vaccination actually controlled?” He asked. “We don’t have a national vaccination register.” This means that the state does not even know who is vaccinated and who is not. “Until these questions have not been answered, I cannot and will not commit myself to a mandatory vaccination,” he told the Funke newspapers. “And I recommend that the Union do not rush to answer this question.” In his opinion, the Union should not join a cross-factional group proposal in the Bundestag on compulsory vaccination.
Dahmen: Compulsory vaccination for civil servants is conceivable
Meanwhile, the Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen is talking about compulsory corona vaccination for groups of officials such as teachers, the police and the fire brigade. “What has already been decided on for health workers can in principle also be right for civil servants who are responsible for other people,” said the member of the Bundestag for the “Rheinische Post”.
“Police officers, teachers or firefighters are often unable to keep a safe distance due to their job and therefore have a responsibility to protect other people.” This special responsibility to protect includes “where possible also protecting yourself and others through a vaccination”. If you get stuck with reason and insight, “as a last resort, the state should, in my opinion, enforce this responsibility to protect with an obligation,” continued Dahmen. But he does not believe in threats, conviction and the protection of people should always be in the foreground. An extension of the compulsory vaccination also requires the procurement of enough vaccine.
It has already been decided that employees in facilities with particularly vulnerable people such as nursing homes and clinics must prove by mid-March 2022 that they have been vaccinated or have recovered. The Bundestag should first decide on a general vaccination requirement in a free vote without parliamentary group discipline.