Vaccination due to "lack of paper"?

Members of the Bundestag hear an amazing argument

Created: 03/22/2022, 05:09

By: Linus Prien

At a hearing in the Bundestag, arguments for and against compulsory vaccination were put on the table.

In addition to the virological point of view, there were also surprising warnings.

Berlin – The corona vaccination requirement could be on the verge of a political end.

At an expert hearing in the Bundestag on Monday, an amazing technical argument was also put forward: Due to the acute shortage of paper, it should be very difficult to implement general vaccination.

This is how the Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV) argued in the health committee.

Experts had discussed the pros and cons of such a regulation on Monday.

In addition to medical and legal aspects, the feasibility of the measure to contain the coronavirus was also discussed.

Corona vaccination requirement: Does the vaccination requirement fail to be implemented?

The Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds did not fundamentally argue against the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate.

After the expert hearing in the Bundestag, the association published a statement: "In our statement, we never spoke out against the introduction of compulsory vaccination," emphasized CEO Doris Pfeiffer.

The aim was to point out the difficulties of implementation.

The acute shortage of paper in Europe makes it extremely difficult to produce 120 million letters for those affected.

Like other energy-intensive industries, the paper industry is suffering from rising energy prices and the uncertainty surrounding the Ukraine conflict.

According to the ARD “Tagesschau”, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin said that he was not aware of any acute shortage of paper.

The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds also rejected a solution in which the health insurance companies should monitor compulsory vaccination.

This is a "government task".

Vaccination obligation: "It is not a law of nature that new variants become milder."

The virologist Melanie Brinkmann from the Braunschweig Helmholtz Center referred to the danger of new virus variants in the Bundestag Health Committee.

"It is extremely unlikely that the current Omicron variant will be the last variant." She also emphasized: "It is not a law of nature that new variants become milder." .

That is why it is “still important to close the vaccination gap”.

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In contrast, the virologist Klaus Stöhr was reluctant to make vaccination compulsory.

This would currently reduce the number of individual infections.

"But the burden of disease would not be reduced dramatically." In the spring that is now beginning, the infection pressure will decrease anyway.

Obligation to vaccinate: The constitutional goal "remains somewhat vague"

The lawyer Robert Seegmüller complained that the existing draft laws did not contain sufficient justification for the need for general vaccination.

The constitutional goal "remains somewhat vague," said the chairman of the Association of German Administrative Judges.

It has not been sufficiently explained why the health care system should be overburdened.