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A delegate holds up her voting card at the state party conference of the Left in Thuringia
Photo: Michael Reichel / dpa
The subject of vaccination regularly causes controversy in the Left Party.
The camp of vaccination advocates faces supporters of top politician Sahra Wagenknecht - who repeatedly expresses herself critical of the corona vaccines.
Now the Thuringian Left have decided to introduce a general compulsory vaccination at their state party congress as the first state association.
The regional association announced that a corresponding urgency request had been approved by a majority.
Rapid change in the urgency request
The original application initially only spoke of a job-related vaccination requirement.
In order to »protect people who are worked with«, people in hospitals, in the nursing service and in old people's homes should be able to be obliged to have a corona vaccination.
The demand is similar to the plan of the traffic light parties to introduce an area-specific vaccination requirement for employees in care.
In an amendment, the urgency request was then sharpened again shortly before the start of the state parliament: The vaccination requirement should now apply to everyone.
"In particular, if it is to be feared that a continued escalation of the infection rate will make further restrictions necessary for vaccinated people as well, a general vaccination requirement appears suitable, necessary and appropriate," says the application.
»Financial incentives« for those unwilling to vaccinate
The compulsory vaccination for all must, however, provide exceptions for cases of hardship, and a transitional phase should also be examined.
The period of time could be used to motivate those unwilling to vaccinate through »financial incentives«.
"If necessary, these incentives would have to be compensated retrospectively for people who have already been vaccinated," the application continues.
Previously, the former finance minister of Brandenburg and today's left-wing member of the Bundestag Christian Görke had demanded a cash bonus for vaccination. The state should pay 300 euros for the first complete vaccination protection and 200 euros for the refreshment, the so-called booster. The payment should also go to those people who have already been vaccinated. "500 euros are appropriate, they are available and they are necessary."
In the Left Party, however, the topic is controversial: Sahra Wagenknecht in particular is considered a harsh critic of the federal government's corona policy.
She has been spreading the same theses on YouTube for months, and in March she was skeptical about the new vaccines and warned against excessive pressure on the unvaccinated.
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Read more about Wagenknecht and how she became the heroine of the unvaccinated here.
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For many comrades she is now regarded as a stimulating figure.
Most recently, she was advised to switch to the AfD with her vaccination theses.
So far there have been no major appeals nationwide for compulsory vaccination; the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP have so far rejected them.
Most recently, Bavaria's Prime Minister, CSU boss Markus Söder, spoke out in favor of a general vaccination requirement.
"I believe that in the end we will not be able to avoid compulsory vaccination," he said.
Otherwise it would be »an endless loop with this Corona crap«.
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