Coronavirus: Ministry of Health presents draft for long

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A resident and a nurse greet each other in the old people's home (archive photo)

Photo: Frank Molter / DPA

The Federal Ministry of Health has made specific proposals for compulsory corona vaccination for employees in nursing homes and clinics.

According to SPIEGEL information, the Infection Protection Act is to be changed.

The new regulation could come into force on January 1, 2022.

People who work in clinics, nursing homes or outpatient care services would then have to provide evidence that they have been vaccinated or have recovered.

If that were not the case, they would have the opportunity to do so by March 31.

to catch up.

Employers should use it to check the vaccination or convalescence status of their employees and to be able to present the evidence to the health department on request.

With the change in the law, older and previously ill people in particular could be better protected against infection with the corona virus.

Covid-19 outbreaks have occurred repeatedly in the past, especially in nursing homes.

Several seniors died in a home in Brandenburg, only half of the staff is said to have been vaccinated.

The wording aid from the ministry serves as a template for the deliberations of the budding traffic light coalition. The Prime Minister's Conference also decided last Thursday that "all staff in hospitals and institutions providing integration assistance as well as in old people's and nursing homes and mobile care services who come into contact with vulnerable people are obliged to be vaccinated against the coronavirus." She had asked the federal government to "implement this as soon as possible."

The managing head of department Jens Spahn himself had previously expressed a negative opinion about a mandatory vaccination in nursing.

The CDU politician had pointed out that he saw a moral duty that employees get vaccinated.

However, he was critical of a legal requirement - mainly out of concern that too much pressure would cause too many caregivers to be lost.

There is already a shortage of staff in the industry.

The draft from the Ministry of Health shows a certain similarity with the requirements for measles vaccination, which are also stored in the Infection Protection Act.

It is not a question of a compulsory vaccination, but an obligation to provide evidence with transition periods.

Failure to comply is treated as an administrative offense that is punished with fines.

It is likely that the SPD, FDP and the Greens will revise the ministry's proposals.

Above all, the Liberals still find it difficult to compulsorily vaccinate.

In the meantime, however, more and more politicians are calling for a general vaccination requirement that goes far beyond the requirements for nursing professions.