Monday, July 26th 2021
Restrictions for the unvaccinated
Montgomery stands behind Braun advance
Should vaccinated people have more freedom than unvaccinated people? Yes, says the chairman of the Montgomery World Medical Association. It is not about privileges, but about basic rights – which a “few eternal skeptics” in his view voluntarily renounce. He has no kind words left for the FDP.
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, believes it is right for people vaccinated against the coronavirus in Germany to have more freedom than those who are not. “There is no reason to continue to withhold their basic rights from vaccinated and immune people just because a few eternal skeptics evade the vaccination,” says Montgomery in the newspapers of the Funke media group. He stands behind Chancellery Minister Helge Braun, who brought restrictions for non-vaccinated people into play at the weekend. “Helge Braun is absolutely right. It’s not about privileges for vaccinated people, but about restrictions on basic rights,” emphasizes Montgomery.
The medical professional criticizes the attitude of the FDP. Anyone who, like the liberals, suspects mandatory vaccination “through the back door” and rejects more rights for those who have been vaccinated, is serving “primitive populism” and “does not understand the concept of freedom correctly”. A vaccination benefits not only those who are vaccinated but also society as a whole, emphasizes Montgomery. “Only through vaccination can we all regain our freedoms.”
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki had previously criticized Braun’s initiative as “introducing mandatory vaccination through the back door”. In addition, such a “categorization of basic rights into a first and a second class is clearly unconstitutional,” he told the Funke newspapers.
FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing also spoke out emphatically against compulsory vaccination. “Instead of threatening vaccination obligations or renewed contact restrictions, those responsible should rather pull out all the stops so that the vaccination campaign that has fallen asleep picks up speed again,” he said in the “Rheinische Post”. Specifically, Wissing suggested mobile vaccination teams and vaccination stations in shopping centers and pedestrian zones close to home.
Laschet takes a stand against Braun
Chancellor Braun had said in the “Bild am Sonntag” that the state has a duty to protect the health of its citizens. This also applies to those not vaccinated against the coronavirus. “Those who have been vaccinated will definitely have more freedom than those who have not been vaccinated,” emphasized the CDU politician.
While Braun received backing from, among others, the Greens boss Robert Habeck and the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach, his statements also sparked skepticism within the CDU. Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet said that Braun’s proposal would have to be discussed. At the same time he restricted: “In the end, I think that civil liberties must apply to everyone if you don’t want to be vaccinated.”
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