Vaccination discussion with Markus Lanz
Palmer for the end of all corona measures
By Marko Schlichting
1/26/2022 3:37 am
The debate about the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate begins in the Bundestag, Boris Palmer has already formed an opinion: he is absolutely in favor of it. In this way, all corona measures could also be abolished, explains Tübingen’s mayor to Markus Lanz. He already has suggestions for implementation.
On Wednesday afternoon, the members of the Bundestag will discuss the introduction of compulsory vaccination for the first time. They don’t want to decide anything yet. That could theoretically happen in the next week of meetings in mid-February. Then the apex of the current omicron wave could also be within reach. Markus Lanz discussed this topic with his guests on ZDF on Tuesday evening. The Mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, from the Alliance Greens, made a surprising proposal.
“I’m fed up now”
The situation is serious. Palmer agrees. The PCR tests would have to be prioritized, contacts could no longer be traced, a court in Baden-Württemberg also overturned the 2G Plus rule in retail, he describes the situation. “We now need something other than a bureaucratized individual case regulation that produces absurd excesses,” says Palmer. “I’m fed up now!” He no longer wanted to be plagued with bureaucracy. He has entrepreneurs in his town who want to create something. “We need a different solution now,” demands Palmer.
The first step is compulsory vaccination. It would ensure the basic immunization of the population. Then the critical infrastructure would no longer be overloaded, and there would no longer be any reason for the current encroachments on fundamental rights. Palmer: “That’s why I think it’s absolutely logical to say: We’ll forget all the old rules. We’ll replace them with a single rule: everyone has to be vaccinated. Everyone understands that, and then it will happen.”
With two or three vaccinations, protection against hospitalization is there, the Green politician continued. In his opinion, compulsory vaccination for people over 50 is completely sufficient. 90 percent of the corona patients in the hospitals are 50 years and older. Palmer demands that compulsory vaccination should come as soon as possible. Two or three months later you can see how it works. Then all measures could be over. “Then we can live normally again.”
Palmer also knows what to do when it comes to controls: either random checks should be carried out among the population, as Austria is planning. Or you can access the population register. “Then everyone gets a letter: We now have a vaccination requirement, in four weeks I need your vaccination certificate.” Anyone who does not follow the instructions must expect a test case. “The city of Tübingen, with 90,000 inhabitants, regulates 140,000 traffic violations. If there are 5,000 more, I don’t even need to hire new staff,” explains Palmer.
You can implement compulsory vaccination if you want to. “It’s about whether you have the will to say to the people who object to it: This is no longer a private decision, but a duty. This fulfillment of duty must now be clearly written into a law. Then we’ll get out from the pandemic.”
“We need a paradigm shift”
Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther is cautiously enthusiastic, which means a lot for a North German. “We need a paradigm shift,” he says. “I would go along with it if you said that compulsory vaccination would replace all the measures,” the CDU politician continued. However, Günther points out that up to two vaccinations per year against new virus mutants will also be needed in the future. He also advocates compulsory vaccination for all adults.
Virologist Hendrik Streeck is skeptical. He is not sure whether compulsory vaccination is necessary in Germany. “We are now vaccinating against a variant that practically no longer exists,” he says. Three steps are currently important for him: vaccination and recovery status should be of the same length. Furthermore, in the future one would also have to accept antibodies as proof of the recovered status. And a study is needed to find out how many people are currently protected from being infected with the corona virus. “We have no idea. We want to achieve a vaccination rate, but we don’t know how many people already have this protection,” said the virologist.
It is completely unclear whether Palmer, who does not want to run on the list of the Greens for the mayoral election in Tübingen, will really find approval with his proposals. In any case, the fact is that no other politician has dared to call for such a clear exit scenario. In any case, the proposal could bring him a lot of votes if he decided to run again for election as mayor of Tübingen – as an independent, non-partisan candidate.