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Corona vaccination: If it is missing, employees can be banned from entering or working
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
The German Hospital Society was recently concerned about the number of staff shortages due to Corona.
At times there are said to have been problems in the emergency rooms because many people were unable to work due to many infections.
Nevertheless, the association has now spoken out in favor of lifting the corona vaccination requirement for nursing and health workers.
"According to current knowledge, it is neither sensible nor communicable to continue it," said Deputy CEO Henriette Neumeyer of the editorial network Germany.
So far, the association had advocated facility-related compulsory vaccination.
In the delta wave, it was assumed that there would also be a high level of protection for the vulnerable groups in the hospital, said Neumeyer.
With the Omikron variant, that has become obsolete.
Politicians from the CDU and left had started a debate about phasing out compulsory vaccination at the end of the year.
Vaccination is not compulsory for hospital visitors
The Bundestag and Bundesrat had decided on facility-related vaccination requirements in December last year.
Nursing and health staff must therefore prove almost nationwide that they have been fully vaccinated against Corona or have recovered - or submit a certificate that they cannot be vaccinated.
However , the law is difficult to enforce in practice .
If there is no proof, the health department must be informed.
It can issue a ban on entry or activity, but has discretion.
In Brandenburg, the authorities recently banned two healthcare workers from entering their workplaces.
Now the President of the Federal Association of Private Providers of Social Services (BPA), Bernd Meurer, said: "The protection of older and vulnerable people cannot be guaranteed with the facility-related vaccination requirement alone, as long as relatives and visitors are still allowed to come to the facilities unvaccinated and so that the virus can always be carried into the facilities.«
apr/dpa