In addition to the far-reaching application by the traffic light parties, mandatory vaccination from the age of 50 is also up for debate. A vote will be taken in mid-March.
When voting on the corona vaccination obligation, the MPs should decide without party pressure.
Although Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly spoken out in favor of general vaccination, his traffic light coalition did not want to bring his own draft law into the debate. The government has always justified this with the difficult medical-ethical decision. But of course there are also tactical reasons behind it. If the application were rejected, it would be a serious defeat for the federal government. Instead, the Bundestag will vote on the motions of individual groups of MPs. Almost all applications have been on the table since Friday – including that of a group of MPs from the traffic light parties who are campaigning for mandatory vaccinations from the age of 18. In mid-March, the MPs should then make their decision in an open vote without party pressure.
The application for the most far-reaching regulation comes from seven deputies from the traffic light parties, including the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dagmar Schmidt, the Greens deputies Janosch Dahmen and Till Steffen and the FDP deputy Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. Your concept provides for compulsory vaccination from October 1st. Then all adults with residence or habitual residence in Germany must provide proof of three vaccinations. The obligation to vaccinate is also met by people who have been vaccinated twice and have recently survived a corona infection. All those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and women at the beginning of pregnancy are exempt from the obligation to vaccinate.
“Our goal is to finally stop chasing and get ahead of the situation,” emphasized SPD MP Schmidt on Friday. However, this is only possible with a high level of basic immunity in the population. This is how you want to lay the foundation for a better winter and avoid corona measures.
The health insurance funds should play an important role in the implementation. In a first step, by May 15, they should inform their insured about the legal obligation to be vaccinated, about counseling services and the approved vaccines. Anyone who is already immune should inform their insurance company, for example by uploading their vaccination card to a health insurance portal. Pharmacies should also help with the transmission of the vaccination status to the cash registers. From October 1st, the health insurance companies should then pass on the data to the authorities. The leading association of statutory health insurance companies had already criticized this role of the health insurance companies in the implementation. This is the task of the state, it said.
Anyone who is still unvaccinated in autumn must expect a fine. The regulatory authorities set the amount. Anyone who refuses to be vaccinated after repeated requests can face a fine of up to 2,500 euros. Green MP Steffen pointed out, however, that in the case of fines of more than 250 euros, the income situation of those affected must be checked – for this reason alone, the first fine should not normally exceed this threshold. Before sanctions are imposed, those affected should also be given the opportunity to submit proof within a reasonable period of time. The ordering of detention to enforce measures should be expressly excluded.
Early in the debate, Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki positioned himself against compulsory vaccination. The FDP politician, together with deputies from other parties, has submitted a group application that rejects the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate – they therefore do not have to submit a draft law. The AfD parliamentary group is also voting with its own motion against compulsory vaccination.
The application of a group around the FDP politician Andrew Ullmann is still in progress. They want to present a proposal for a “middle way”: with a consultation for all adult unvaccinated and a vaccination from 50 years of age.
For a long time, the Union MPs avoided taking a position that was too specific. For weeks, the Union faction insisted on a proposal from the federal government for compulsory vaccination. After it became clear that this would not exist, the Union faction made its own proposal after all. However, there is no longer any mention of the compulsory vaccination originally advocated by many Union MPs. “Even an immediate vaccination would not help to contain the omicron wave in the short term,” says the draft presented on Friday.
Accordingly, there should be a “graded vaccination mechanism”, which, however, will only take effect if the corona situation continues to worsen, and then only for certain groups of people, such as vulnerable groups and employees of critical infrastructure. The criteria for when the law should be sharpened by the Bundestag are vaguely formulated. The dangerousness of the virus variant, the effectiveness of the available vaccines and the immune status of the population should be taken into account.
The motion also calls on the government to draft legislation to establish a vaccination registry. According to the proposal, data from the Federal Central Tax Office could be used for the register.
Dirk Wiese, one of the initiators of the draft law on general vaccination, expressed confidence on Friday: “We see support in many places,” said the SPD politician. You are in “constructive exchange” with MPs from other parliamentary groups, including those from the CDU and CSU. In view of the experience with Omikron, however, a majority for the application seems increasingly unlikely. Even from traffic light circles one hears that it is a communicatively difficult task to pass the law at a time when the population is just relaxing in the corona pandemic.
The obligation to vaccinate was always linked to the goal of avoiding an overload of the healthcare system and the consequent restrictions on freedom. But the experience with Omikron has recently made this risk scenario fade. This reduces the pressure on MPs to act – although nobody can reliably predict whether a new virus variant or a renewed increase in incidences in autumn will make the situation worse.
Indonesia was the first country in the world to make vaccination compulsory. Vaccination has been compulsory for all citizens over the age of 18 since February 2021. But due to logistical problems and a shortage of vaccines, not even half of the more than 270 million inhabitants were immunized at the beginning of 2022. Ecuador has made the most comprehensive regulation to date: Since December, vaccination has been compulsory there for all citizens aged five and over. Austria was the first EU country to follow suit in February. There, vaccination is compulsory from the age of 18. Anyone who violates this should pay fines of 600 to 3600 euros.
Two other European countries are relying on compulsory corona vaccination for older people: in Greece it has been in force for over 60-year-olds since the beginning of the year; in Italy, from February 15, everyone over the age of 50 must be vaccinated against the virus. In France, there has been a facility-related vaccination requirement since September 15 – for nurses and doctors. In Italy, too, doctors and employees of old people’s homes, school staff and security forces must provide proof of vaccination. In Greece, vaccination has been compulsory for nursing staff since late summer. England made vaccination compulsory for people working in retirement homes from 11 November; for nursing staff, it should come into force there in April.