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Corona: Prime ministers turn around towards mandatory vaccination

2021-11-23T18:10:43.746Z


So far, one political promise has been made in the pandemic: no compulsory vaccination. Now the majority of the prime ministers are moving away from it. Some now even consider it to be unavoidable.


Enlarge image

Corona vaccination in Frankfurt am Main

Photo: Thomas Lohnes / AFP

New highs for corona infections are reported in Germany every day, a trend reversal is not in sight - on the contrary.

In many places, clinics are preparing for intensive care units or beyond the capacity limit.

In view of the devastating situation, a turnaround is looming in politics.

The majority of German Prime Ministers no longer rule out compulsory vaccination.

This was the result of a survey by SPIEGEL in the state chancelleries.

"If the future federal government presents a corresponding amendment, then I will support it," says Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU).

Such an obligation must be regulated in a federal law.

"A compulsory vaccination is inevitable in order to get out of the constant loop of ever new waves," said Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU).

Bremen's mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) also said that a general compulsory vaccination "we can certainly not rule out in view of the nationwide situation in the future, we have to discuss it very seriously."

The Prime Ministers are thus turning away from their own decision. Exactly a year ago, when the second wave was just building up in November 2020, the prime ministers and government leaders had stated during a video session with Chancellor Angela Merkel that mandatory vaccinations were "not useful and will be rejected by the federal and state governments." Since then, politicians from almost all parties have repeatedly assured that vaccination is out of the question.

It is now all the more difficult to switch to another line after this categorical exclusion.

Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left), currently chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference (MPK), announced that he would ask the MPK to "conduct a thorough discussion on the subject of mandatory vaccination and to reconsider or update the old resolution."

This is "no longer up-to-date", he himself would "no longer agree to such a categorical definition today."

Ramelow referred to a dead vaccine that should be available soon - that would be a bridge for previous vaccine opponents, including those on the left, who reject the genetically engineered mRNA and vector vaccines.

The next round of the federal and state governments is planned for December 9th, i.e. in a good two weeks.

However, experts agree that quick measures are needed to break the fourth corona wave - and that even a quickly introduced mandatory vaccination would not alleviate the acute misery, but would need time to have an effect.

A spokesman for Bouffier justifies the move away from the previous promise on the grounds that one must see that the spread of the pandemic is extremely dynamic and that knowledge about the pandemic has developed.

"Three or four weeks ago, nobody told us that we would have to boost so many people in a short period of time," says Bouffier.

The measures would have to be based on the spread and current knowledge about the pandemic.

His Saarland colleague Tobias Hans (CDU) says about the rethinking: "The corona pandemic has taught that the virus cannot be negotiated with, so we are well advised not to impose any bans on thinking or to rule out measures to protect everyone as a last resort in the future may be necessary. «First, however, the vaccination campaign should be stepped up again.

The new mandatory vaccination debate was initiated by the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), who was the first to speak out in favor of mandatory vaccination.

The number of infections is particularly high in Bavaria.

After Söder, Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) was also open to compulsory vaccination.

In the meantime, Söder has even attracted Baden-Württemberg's Green Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann to his side.

In a joint article in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, the two campaigned for a general vaccination requirement as a “requirement for us to regain our freedom”.

Malu Dreyer now wants to lead the debate about mandatory vaccination in an "open-ended" manner

Even the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD), previously a vehement advocate of the voluntary principle in vaccination, now spoke in favor of conducting the discussion about mandatory vaccination in an "open-ended" manner.

Most recently, however, she also agreed to the mandatory vaccination for employees in care facilities and hospitals, as decided by the MPK.

Her party colleague Stephan Weil from Lower Saxony is now of the opinion that under certain conditions "an obligation to vaccinate may be considered". However, it is not a panacea that promises short-term success. Like other heads of government, including Dreyer, Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD), he called for the job-related vaccination requirement to be implemented in care as soon as possible. "If these more stringent measures do not have the desired effect, there are good reasons to speak out in favor of a general compulsory vaccination," says Weil.

The Ethics Council has not yet commented on a general vaccination requirement.

Members like the Cologne criminal lawyer Frauke Rostalski have concerns that such a general obligation cannot be justified from their point of view.

The Berlin state and constitutional lawyer Ulrich Battis, on the other hand, stated that a general vaccination requirement was covered by the Basic Law.

Hesse's head of government Bouffier, himself a lawyer, said that this was "constitutionally feasible."

agr / mab / mxw / sms / stw

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-11-23

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