Vaccination debate in the Bundestag: Do Scholz and Lauterbach have to settle for a compromise?

Created: 01/26/2022 05:41

By: Andreas Schmid

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach are calling for compulsory vaccination.

A compromise could be reached in the specific design.

© Jens Schicke / Imago

On Wednesday, compulsory vaccination will be discussed in the Bundestag.

Before that, there are three possible scenarios.

Will it be a compromise in the end?

All information in the news ticker.

• On Wednesday (January 26th) there will be the first orientation debate in terms of general vaccination requirements.

• A vote has not yet been taken, but the debate should be interpreted as a pointer in the direction of a decision.

• Supporters and opponents of general vaccination describe their point of view.

• This news ticker for the orientation debate in the Bundestag is continuously updated.

Berlin – Two days after the Corona summit, the Bundestag is also dealing with pandemic policy.

MEPs are discussing the introduction of compulsory vaccination.

The traffic light coalition had put the decision in the hands of the parliamentarians.

It should be voted on without party pressure.

Accordingly, there are also different currents within the parties.

Before the debate, supporters and opponents of compulsory vaccination position themselves again clearly.

A compromise is also possible.

Compulsory vaccination: Scholz and Lauterbach say "yes" - a total of three options

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz* (SPD) and his Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach have already clearly positioned themselves in favor of general vaccination.

They receive support from the prime ministers.

In the Bundestag, however, voting is to take place in the form of group applications.

Neither Scholz nor Lauterbach will make such an application.

They say you are neutral.

Lauterbach will take the floor in the Bundestag debate as an SPD deputy - Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the other hand, will not.

This emerges from the list of speakers that the SPD parliamentary group agreed on on Tuesday. 

So far, compulsory vaccination for all adults who are eligible for vaccination, a no to compulsory vaccination and a model that provides for compulsory vaccination for all people over the age of 50 have been up for debate.

Compulsory vaccination from 50: A compromise as a solution?

Those who are younger and not previously ill put little strain on the hospitals, argues FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann, one of the initiators of the proposal, which originally came from the CSU.

If Ullmann has his way, there should first be an obligation to provide advice, similar to abortion.

The obligation to vaccinate should only take effect if not enough people have been vaccinated by that educational offensive.

In the FDP, in whose ranks there are also clear opponents of compulsory vaccination such as Wolfgang Kubicki, there has been a lot of encouragement for this proposal so far.

For example, by parliamentary group leader Konstantin Kuhle or Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann.

Compulsory vaccinations at age 50 could be a middle ground, a kind of compromise that brings together those who oppose and support vaccination. This model is currently already in use in Italy and is well received in science. The virologist Melanie Brinkmann told the

: "If all people over 50 were vaccinated by autumn, we could go into the next winter with more peace of mind."

However, there are still MPs who are at odds with this compromise.

A cross-party group of MPs wants to present a draft law for mandatory vaccinations from the age of 18.

These include the SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese, the Green health politician Janosch Dahmen and Katrin Helling-Plahr from the FDP.

According to the ideas of the initiators, the obligation to vaccinate should be limited, a period of one to two years is under discussion.

Left faction leader Amira Mohamed Ali meanwhile distanced himself from compulsory vaccination.

Experience with the current Omikron variant would have to be taken into account.

The AfD is also completely against compulsory vaccination.

Vaccination obligation: the schedule for the vote

It will be a while before a decision is made. After the orientation debate on Wednesday, the various motions are to be worked out, which could then be discussed in the plenum for the first time in the session week starting February 14th. A month later - in the following week of the session - the legislative decision would then be possible. The concrete implementation would then take time.

So far it is also unclear when and how the federal states will be brought on board.

Your support is needed because the law also has to pass the Bundesrat.

Until then, the orientation debate should provide more clarity.

That's probably not bad, considering that many MEPs are still completely undecided.

According to a survey in Bavaria, 39 percent: This is how Bavaria's parliamentarians want to vote*.