Vaccination with side effects: Holetschek calls for a review of the deadline

Created: 01/18/2022, 19:20

By: Sebastian Horsch

Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek calls on the federal government to clarify open questions regarding compulsory vaccination.

© Tobias Hase / dpa

From mid-March, there will be a facility-related vaccination requirement in nursing homes and clinics, among other things – that was decided by the traffic light coalition.

But when it comes to implementation, questions arise.

Munich – Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek calls on the federal government to "reconsider critically if necessary" the period up to the introduction of facility-related compulsory vaccination*.

The federal government must first clarify open questions.

“Who specifically falls under this obligation to vaccinate?

How can the nursing, medical and domestic care in the facilities be maintained in individual cases?

What is going on: compulsory vaccination or care?” In addition, the general compulsory vaccination must be pushed ahead quickly, which the Bundestag is expected to vote on in the foreseeable future.

"Only then, in my opinion, can the regulations on facility-related compulsory vaccination be implemented in a meaningful way," says Holetschek.

Institution-related compulsory vaccination: Holetschek sees a need for clarification

In fact, there is a need for clarification. From March 15, health and care facilities may only hire workers who can be proven to have been vaccinated. However, as things currently stand, that does not mean that only vaccinated people will be working in these companies from March 16th. Things are a little different for those who already work there. If you cannot present proof of vaccination, your employer will first report you to the health department. There, individual decisions should then be made and, if necessary, a ban on entry should be issued.

Where unvaccinated nurses work and where not, would then depend on the interpretation of the responsible office - and on its workload.

Because although the Bavarian hospitals assume a vaccination rate of 90 to 95 percent of their employees, it is significantly lower in many nursing homes.

The offices should therefore get a lot of individual cases on the table.

In many cases, they are already overloaded with contact tracing.

So the processing could take a long time.

Vaccination obligation: Care industry fears emergencies

In addition, the health authorities could also be faced with the question of whether they are endangering care in nursing facilities with entry bans for unvaccinated employees. Because the industry, with an already empty labor market, fears staff cuts that could trigger emergencies in combination with Omikron* failures. "If facilities then also lose employees because of compulsory vaccinations for healthcare professionals, either because they change their field of work of their own accord or because they have to be subject to employment bans, the security of supply in the healthcare system can no longer be maintained," warns the association of nurses in Bavaria (VdPB).

It can also be heard from some Bavarian hospitals that a large part of the previously unvaccinated staff did not get vaccinated after the decision to make vaccination mandatory, but waited.

It's not just about nurses.

Kitchen and cleaning staff in particular eventually find new employment in other sectors.

"Disadvantaging care and health facilities threatens a distortion of competition," says district council president Christian Bernreiter (CSU *) of our newspaper.

He also promotes a general obligation to vaccinate.

Holetschek: Novavax vaccine could “convince people to vaccinate”

Minister Holetschek also sees another reason to review the deadline.

The vaccine from the manufacturer Novavax* will be delivered at the end of February.

"This protein vaccine - it is based on a different technology than the previously available corona vaccines - can also play a positive role in convincing some people to get vaccinated," he says.

In Bavaria, the vaccine should therefore preferably be available for vaccinations of employees in health and care facilities.