Friday 17th December 2021
Police, teachers, fire brigade
Green expert suggests compulsory vaccination for certain officials
Because of their job, police officers, teachers and firefighters have a special responsibility, says Green health expert Dahmen. Therefore, it should also be considered for them what has already been initiated for the health staff: compulsory vaccination.
The Green health expert Janosch Dahmen has brought about a corona vaccination for civil servants 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. “I do not believe in threats, conviction and the protection of the people must 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.
The CDU politician Friedrich Merz expressed his disapproval of 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. “I recommend that the Union do not rush to answer this question.” Merz also refused to join a cross-faction group proposal for mandatory vaccination in the Bundestag. This is a trick used by the Ampel government to conceal the fact that it does not have a majority of its own.