Can the vaccination be compulsory? Constitutional lawyer sees no reservations - colleague disagrees

“Legitimate” and “proportionate” should be a general vaccination requirement.

What that means is also controversial among constitutional lawyers.

Munich - The debate about a general compulsory vaccination against the corona virus is underway.

What was excluded by many politicians a year ago is now finding supporters.

Among other things, Markus Söder (CSU) and Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) are in favor of compulsory vaccination, Volker Bouffier (CDU) is open to it.

In Germany, a measles vaccination obligation for certain groups is already regulated in the Infection Protection Act.

Compulsory vaccination in Germany: Ordinances can be issued

For children, this is linked to the possibility of attending public institutions such as schools.

According to

,

other vaccination requirements could also be introduced

through an ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Health with the consent of the Federal Council.

State governments could impose a corresponding vaccination requirement in their country if the Federal Ministry of Health does not issue such an ordinance.

The President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, had made a rather deliberate statement at the weekend.

"There is really no one who would like to have a mandatory vaccination," said the RKI boss.

"But if you've tried everything else, the WHO says: Then you have to think about compulsory vaccination." This is one of the questions that the legal assessment deals with: Would compulsory vaccination even be possible in Germany?

Constitutional lawyer: Statutory vaccination requirements could replace “moral vaccination requirements”

The constitutional lawyer Uwe Volkmann had told Deutschlandfunk that a statutory vaccination requirement could end the “moral exclusion” of unvaccinated people, because it relies on the law instead of on “moral continuous exposure”. Because the vaccination was linked to the promise of freedoms, a further lockdown for all of this promise would "ad absurdum".

In the

, Volker Boehme-Neßler, professor of public law at the University of Oldenburg, said: “As long as there are opportunities for communication, compulsory vaccination is disproportionate and therefore unconstitutional.” He also clearly assumes: “Contrary to what top politicians claim, have State and politics by no means already communicated enough with the skeptical citizens. ”Boehme-Neßler fears that an obligation would not necessarily lead to more vaccinations, but to more forged vaccination certificates, because it would not remove uncertainties.

Will the vaccination be compulsory?

How would mandatory vaccination be enforced?

Anna Katharina Mangold, professor of European law at the European University of Flensburg, sees it differently. "In the current situation, a general compulsory vaccination is definitely proportionate". Otherwise, the necessary vaccination density is not achievable "to bring about an endemic situation of the pandemic and to get out of the lockdown situation". In addition, there have already been enough speeches. Uwe Volkmann, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, agrees: "The individual level of intervention required to be vaccinated is less than the serious restrictions on freedom that would otherwise be required".

Experts disagree on how mandatory vaccination should be enforced.

Would it only be fines to be applied - or could there be coercive measures?

"The most glaring means" should not be used "immediately", but in principle the "entire state instruments" would be available, according to Mangold.

In the

, colleagues disagree - among other things, they see coercive measures as "incompatible with human dignity".

A final judicial decision is still pending for the measles obligation.

Several parents had lodged constitutional complaints.

In Austria, a general vaccination should apply from 2022.

(kat)