Bundestag debate on general vaccination goes into the next round - the four applications at a glance

Created: 2022-01-27 05:22

By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld

Is the general corona vaccination coming?

In the Bundestag, this is being debated in detail for the first time.

Supporters and opponents position themselves.

Berlin – For weeks, the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate has been a bone of contention in politics – and in public.

This Wednesday, January 26, there will be a detailed debate in the Bundestag for the first time.

Your supporters see it as a necessary measure to significantly increase the vaccination rate in the fight against the corona virus *.

Opponents doubt the necessity and point out that until recently, leading politicians from all parties have declared in unison that there will be no vaccination.

The obligation to vaccinate is being discussed further in the Bundestag.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

So far, there have essentially been three approaches for general vaccination requirements: A draft for a requirement from the age of 18, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz also envisages, is currently being prepared by parliamentarians from all three traffic light groups.

A group led by the FDP MP Andrew Ullmann concreted a push for a "middle way": with a mandatory, professional and personal consultation for all adult unvaccinated.

And if after a certain time the necessary vaccination rate is not reached, there should be an obligation to prove vaccination from the age of 50.

A group led by FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki wants to prevent compulsory vaccination in general.

General compulsory vaccination: debate in the Bundestag - four applications at a glance

• A general vaccination requirement for everyone over the age of 18:

  A group of MPs from the three traffic light groups favors this variant. The aim is to find a "sustainable, proportionate and at the same time targeted solution," according to a letter from the initiators to the other MPs - except for those of the AfD. The group, which includes SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese, Green health politician Janosch Dahmen and Katrin Helling-Plahr from the FDP, only wants to present its draft law after the orientation debate on Wednesday. According to the ideas of the initiators, the obligation to vaccinate should be limited, a period of one to two years is under discussion. It should apply to three doses and be subject to a fine. Dahmen envisions a height “in the middle three-digit range”. Before this sum is due,However, according to the unvaccinated Dahmen, a period of about six weeks should be given to catch up on the vaccination - in case of doubt, fines could be imposed several times. The initiators of the application think little of a vaccination register, at least at the moment. The structure would probably be quite complex, and there are also data protection concerns.

• Compulsory vaccinations from the age of 50:

  A group led by FDP MP Andrew Ullmann proposes compulsory vaccinations for people over 50.

  Doctor Ullmann argues that those who are younger and not previously ill put little strain on the hospitals.

  He proposes a step-by-step model, which should begin with a mandatory consultation with a doctor.

  Only if the vaccination rate has not improved as a result of this information campaign or if health care is endangered should vaccination be compulsory for risk groups.

  Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) also has sympathy for compulsory vaccination from the age of 50, as it already exists in Italy.

• No to compulsory vaccination:

  Although politicians across all camps have long opposed any compulsory vaccination, this position is now only openly held by a few. Spokesman is the deputy leader of the FDP, Wolfgang Kubicki. The Vice President of the Bundestag intends to submit a corresponding application to the Bundestag. In a submission from the end of last year, reference is made, among other things, to the "unresolved questions regarding the duration and scope of protection of a vaccination". The obligation to vaccinate is a “deep encroachment on fundamental rights” that cannot be used to break the current wave of infections anyway, argues Kubicki.

• Union faction with its own application:

  The Union faction in the Bundestag wants to submit its own application for compulsory corona vaccination.

  This was announced by the parliamentary group's health policy spokesman, Tino Sorge (CDU), on Wednesday in the RTL and n-tv program "Frühstart".

  The Union will not join any of the three group applications that are being prepared, said Sorge.

  These would “splinter” the discussion.

  "We will submit a differentiated proposal that will also contribute to pacification in the discussion," announced Sorge.

  The Union will wait for the orientation debate on Wednesday in the Bundestag to form its own opinion.

Corona in Germany: Institution-related vaccination requirements already decided in mid-December

The so-called facility-related corona vaccination obligation was decided in mid-December: employees in facilities with vulnerable people such as clinics and nursing homes have to prove by March 15 that they have been vaccinated or have recovered.

Otherwise, the health department can issue a ban on activities.

Critics have repeatedly expressed fears that mandatory vaccinations could result in the loss of more workers in the already tightly occupied care sector.

A clear majority of people in Germany think that the debate about compulsory vaccination contributes to the division of society.

In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 62 percent of those questioned took this view.

On the other hand, 26 percent do not see the danger of a further split, and 12 percent do not provide any information.

79 percent say that society is already divided into the vaccinated and the unvaccinated two years after the start of the corona pandemic.

Only 15 percent think that is not the case.

6 percent do not provide any information on this.