Pandemic over soon?
Statutory health insurance physicians no longer want to participate in compulsory vaccination
Created: 01/19/2022 11:04 am
By: Jonas Raab
Karl Lauterbach wants vaccinations to be mandatory, but the head of statutory health insurance, Andreas Gassen, rejects the idea.
© FutureImage/imago
The SPD is pushing for a general obligation to vaccinate against Corona.
The doctors don't want to get involved.
The hospital society even goes one step further.
Berlin - The debate about the introduction of a general vaccination requirement in Germany is picking up speed. At the urging of the SPD government - especially Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach - the mandatory spade against Corona is to be discussed in the Bundestag and will soon be launched. The head of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, has a fear – and gives Lauterbach a refusal.
Should vaccination come about, according to Gassen in the
picture
, the German panel doctors do not want to implement it.
The practices of the around 100,000 resident physicians are "no place to enforce government measures," he said.
Gassen emphasized the importance of trust between doctor and patient – and then explained: "We will not expect our doctors to carry out vaccination against the patient's will."
Corona vaccination obligation: panel doctors do not want to participate - "Politics must take care of it"
The panel doctors also wiped the proposal from North Rhine-Westphalia's Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann off the table: the CDU politician called for the introduction of an obligation to provide advice for those who were unwilling to be vaccinated.
Stefan Hofmeister, Vice President of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, in the
picture
: "The decision to vaccinate is a political one.
If the federal government wants to pass this, it must also take care of the implementation.”
The German Hospital Society goes one step further.
Association leader Gerald Gaß questioned the need for compulsory vaccination in the
Handelsblatt
– and even spoke of the end of the pandemic.
The reason: Omikron and its mild courses.
Corona: Is the facility-related compulsory vaccination now shaky because of Omikron?
"If, after weighing the scientific findings, politicians come to the conclusion that the pandemic is over and vaccination is therefore no longer required, then there will be a new situation," said Gass.
In this case, from his point of view, there would be no reason to adhere to the general and facility-related vaccination requirements.
By March 15, employees in facilities such as medical practices and clinics must present proof of vaccination or recovery.
According to Gaß, the feared wave of layoffs in the healthcare sector did not materialize, but Omikron changed the signs.
Hospital society doubts the sense of compulsory vaccination - Corona "only flu"?
"If Corona is actually only seen as a flu, then the virus must be treated as such - and there is no vaccination requirement for medical staff against the flu," said Gass.
The Ethics Council based its recommendation for facility-related compulsory vaccination on the Delta variant, which is no longer dominant.
"In the light of the Omicron variant, the facility-related vaccination requirement must therefore also be reassessed," demanded Gass in the
Handelsblatt
.
(yeah)
