Vaccination obligation before the Omikron-Aus?

FDP sends new signals - SPD is now thinking of a "deadline"

Created: 01/17/2022, 16:27

By: Andreas Schmid

Compulsory vaccination: "Yes, but..." - The traffic light is rethinking the situation, and Minister Anne Spiegel also names a clear condition.

© Frank Ossenbrink via www.imago-images.de

Is vaccination still compulsory?

"Omicron is changing the rules of the game," says the FDP.

The SPD is sticking to the plan - but mentions a new condition.

Berlin – It should be unbureaucratic and decided as soon as possible: compulsory vaccination.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized in his first government survey last week that he still wanted to get mandatory corona vaccination off the ground.

"In any case, I think it is necessary and will actively support it." But there are also other opinions.

The mood among parliamentarians seems to be changing.

Alternative scenarios are also becoming increasingly important.

Compulsory vaccination: "Omikron changes the rules of the game" - various models discussed

According to the plans of the traffic light coalition, the Bundestag should decide in a free vote without parliamentary group specifications. Group proposals should be submitted, which can then be voted on. A clear trend is not yet apparent, but: the vaccination requirements have at least become more defensive. Which could be due to the omicron variant in particular. "Omicron changes the rules of the game," said Stephan Thomae, parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, the

. Even before the Omikron wave, the Allgäuer had shown himself

skeptical about general vaccination in an interview with

*. Now, with a view to Omikron, Thomae said it was about “doing the right thing at the right time.” 

It is currently unclear how compulsory vaccination could be structured. So there are question marks in the age specification. Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) emphasized on Deutschlandfunk: "It should be absolutely clear that if vaccination is compulsory, we are talking about adults and not about children and young people." CSU health politician Stephan Pilsinger recently brought a model like that in Italy into play, where vaccination is only compulsory for people over 50 years of age. There was support for this from the FDP.

There are also unanswered questions about the duration and scope of compulsory vaccination.

The SPD MP Dagmar Schmidt, who works in the SPD parliamentary group on corresponding applications, told the

: "A vaccination - if it comes - will be limited." It's about achieving basic immunity in the population.

“At the moment we assume that three vaccinations protect relatively well.

Then it would be that too.” The FDP could also advocate a limited vaccination requirement.

Does Omikron influence the mandatory vaccination debate?

Ethics Council is also considering

In December, the German Ethics Council spoke out in favor of general vaccination. A few days ago, Chair Alena Buyx said the panel may need to reconsider its recommendation. The attitude also depends on which corona variant dominates the infection process, she told

. When the majority of the Ethics Council recommended extending compulsory vaccination to significant parts of the population in December, this was done “essentially under the conditions of the Delta variant”. Even when Olaf Scholz* pushed ahead with the demand for compulsory vaccination, this happened in times of Delta, a variant with usually more severe disease progressions.

The present is marked by Omikron.

The highly contagious corona mutation is currently causing record numbers of infections.

The nationwide incidence was 528.2 as of Monday (January 17).

It climbed to a record for the fourth day in a row.

But: Omicron is much more contagious, but at the same time it is also much milder.

There are still severe cases that put a strain on the health system.

However, they are significantly lower.

This shows the so-called hospitalization rate.

It indicates how many people out of 100,000 have to be hospitalized within a week because of Covid-19.

It currently averages 3.14 (as of January 17).

For comparison: At the beginning of December, the hospitalization rate was around 12, at Christmas 2020 it reached the previous record of almost 16.

Vaccination obligation: Prime Minister and Lauterbach for it

The general obligation to vaccinate seems to be shaking - which could also be due to the current problems in Austria*.

Austria and Germany are the only two western democracies in which a general obligation to vaccinate, i.e. compulsory for everyone, is being discussed.

Irrespective of this, there are still a number of prominent advocates of compulsory vaccination.

For example, all 16 prime ministers are in favor of it.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also defends the mandatory injection.

Unvaccinated people who now get an omicron infection will have little protection against other variants in the fall, the minister wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

"Omicron does not replace vaccination." The Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) said in the picture program "The Right Questions": "I think we will only get out of this pandemic if we now have this vaccination requirement - no matter which variant - introduce."

The deputy FDP chairman Johannes Vogel pointed out on ZDF that in the summer all parties were still against compulsory vaccination.

The situation has changed with the more contagious Delta variant, and it may change again with Omicron.

Also for this reason: The fact that the introduction of compulsory vaccination is probably delayed does not have to be a bad thing - on the contrary, as

comments*