Compulsory vaccination from 50: New traffic light draft is here - with a decisive but

Created: 02/17/2022 05:13

By: Florian Naumann

The FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann in the Bundestag.

© Christian Spicker/Imago

An obligation to advise for all adults - and an obligation to vaccinate only with reservations: This is provided for in another draft law.

The paper is available to IPPEN.MEDIA.

Berlin – The draft law for compulsory vaccinations from the age of 50 is now on the table – just in time for the Corona summit: A group of traffic light deputies led by the FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann presented their proposal on Wednesday afternoon.

The draft is available to

.

It provides for mandatory advice for all people over 18 who have neither proof of vaccination nor proof of recovery - and the

of compulsory vaccination for people over 50. In this new draft, too, the general obligation to vaccinate should only be "subject to an assessment of the situation in autumn 2022” come into effect.

Most recently, the Union faction had proposed a kind of mandatory vaccination on demand.

Corona vaccination obligation: Ullmann draft is here – advice for everyone, vaccination obligation only from the age of 50 and under certain circumstances

As a “first step”, Ullmann and Co. want all adults in Germany to be contacted by the health insurance companies.

According to the draft law, everyone must have proof of vaccination or recovery or proof of vaccination advice from a doctor by September 15.

In a second step, compulsory vaccination for over 50-year-olds could then be created - by a separate decision of the Bundestag.

In practice, this would mean that everyone over 50 years of age must have "proof of vaccination or recovery" and present it "at the request of the competent authority".

However, this should only happen “if the then current epidemiological situation requires it” – and no earlier than September 15th.

According to the plan, the rules would be “evaluated” every three months and would in any case be limited to the end of 2023.

Some of the practical implementation plans could contain explosive material: the authors of the draft not only want to handle the obligation to provide advice, but also, for example, an obligation to vaccinate via the health insurance companies.

They point to a time saving by using "existing structures and offices that are already familiar with handling the particularly sensitive health data".

The statutory health insurers had recently resisted this suggestion.

Vaccination obligation dispute: Traffic light parliamentarians consider general obligation to be “no alternative”

Ullmann and his colleagues clearly reject a general obligation to vaccinate all adults in Germany.

This idea, which is also up for debate, is "not an alternative" - ​​"because an age-related vaccination requirement is already suitable for preventing the healthcare system from being overloaded," as the draft says.

For most people, a corona infection is “less serious”.

In people over 50 years, however, there is “a significantly higher risk of serious illnesses”.

The draft also contains a passage on sanctions for violations of the obligation to vaccinate: It expressly only provides for fines.

"In the event that the fine pursuant to sentence 1 cannot be collected, the ordering of substitute detention or compulsory detention is excluded," it says.

Vaccination obligation in the Bundestag: Debate is still a long time coming - traffic light group presents draft law late

In their draft, Ullmann and Co. justify the basic need for general vaccination with the concern about new corona variants and possibly necessary protective measures against an overload of the health system: "Such a scenario must be prevented."

According to the draft, in addition to Ullmann, the proposal also includes FDP parliamentary group deputy Konstantin Kuhle, the Green politicians Paula Piechotta and Dieter Janecek, but also the SPD parliamentarian Herbert Wollmann.

However, a survey of members of the Bundestag a few days ago attested that compulsory vaccination from the age of 50 had a rather low chance of success.

Either way: the compulsory vaccination will probably only be debated in the Bundestag after March 13th.

Then, according to an agreement by the traffic light groups, the first reading for the group applications for compulsory vaccination should take place.

Originally, a consultation start was expected for this week.

However, Ullmann's concept was not finished in time.

According to media reports, another draft against compulsory vaccination is still expected.

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