The facility-related vaccination requirement had existed since March 15, and is now being phased out.
A non-vaccinated nursing supervisor describes her experiences with the controversial law.
District – Judith Gabel is not vaccinated against Covid-19.
She made a conscious decision not to.
The 33-year-old is one of numerous non-vaccinated people in the district who were affected by the facility-related compulsory vaccination (see info box below).
Gabel is a nurse by profession and has undergone further training to become a nursing service manager.
Together with her mother, she runs the "Nursing Team Gabel" in Peiting.
The outpatient care service has around 35 employees and takes care of people in need of care 365 days a year.
In addition to care at home, there is also an offer for day care, for which the patients come to the premises of the care service in Peiting.
A total of 120 patients are cared for.
Judith Gabel did not take the decision against the vaccination lightly
About her job, Gabel says, "Nursing is beautiful.
I can't imagine anything else for me.” The decision not to be vaccinated was not taken lightly.
"With other vaccinations, I have always had side effects," she explains.
In addition, they do not belong to any risk group.
"So I weighed it up: What kind of risk am I taking if I get infected?"
According to her own statements, she has had numerous discussions with doctors, including a consultation with the medical director of the vaccination center in Peißenberg.
"When I told him how bad I was after previous vaccinations, he said that he would not vaccinate me at the vaccination center."
Facility-related vaccination requirements
On December 31, 2022, the institution-related vaccination obligation expires.
As of Sunday, staff in medical facilities will
no longer have to provide proof of immunity
against Covid-19.
This applies both to employees who are already employed and to those who are applying for a new position.
Partial vaccination had been mandatory since March 15 of this year.
In order not to further aggravate the emergency in nursing,
Prime Minister Markus Söder
had emphasized before the regulation came into force that he did not want to implement the facility-related vaccination requirement.
This led to
disagreements with Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach
in the spring .
Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek has repeatedly called for an early end to the facility-related compulsory vaccination in recent months.
The regulation, which is anchored in the
"Act to strengthen vaccination prevention against COVID-19 and to amend other regulations in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic"
, was limited from the outset to the end of the year.
In the Free State,
neither fines nor entry bans
were issued to non-vaccinated employees of medical facilities.
Other federal states, such as Hamburg or Saarland, took tough action despite the time limit.
Gabel was aware early on that you are not completely protected against infection despite vaccination.
In their eyes, the institution-related vaccination requirement was therefore "madness".
At some point it was also about the principle: "Why should I have been forced to have a vaccination?" asks Gabel.
"I was the least of the dangers.
I was partially tested daily and wore an FFP2 mask.”
With a strict hygiene concept, the "Fork Nursing Team" got through the pandemic well.
There were no mass infections among staff and patients.
"Infections do - but in the private sphere." Among their employees there are both vaccinated and non-vaccinated.
"We have everything represented," says the 33-year-old.
Her mother Marina (59) is vaccinated.
"And the collaboration has always worked well."
Nursing manager had to query the vaccination status of her staff
The head of the nursing service had to query the vaccination status of her staff in the course of the compulsory nursing vaccination - according to Gabel, a high amount of work, to this day.
"We have to report monthly who is vaccinated and who is not," she says.
She is very relieved about the expiry of the partial vaccination requirement.
"Because as an employer, I don't actually see it as my duty to query, save and pass on my employees' health data."
Before the law came into force, Gabel had called the employment agency.
"The situation was potentially life-threatening for me." It was a turbulent time, and there were also reports in the press, some of which were incorrect.
"Unvaccinated nurses could never be fired just like that," says Gabel.
Fork: "Had a very high rate of illness after the vaccinations"
According to Gabel, employees of her nursing service who had been vaccinated showed side effects.
"We had a very high rate of sickness after the vaccinations, many employees were absent, it ranged from one day to a week." That strengthened her decision not to miss an injection.
In the private sphere, Gabel was "very upset" about the restrictions on non-vaccinated people.
"You make a decision for your own body and your own health and then you are excluded from general life." Under no circumstances would a fake vaccination card have come into question for you.
"I'm too honest for that.
I made that decision and then I live with it.”
Katja Greinwald from the hospital GmbH: "The law was quickly knitted"
Katja Greinwald, hygiene officer at the hospital GmbH, remembers that it was difficult when partial vaccination was introduced in March.
"There were two camps, with very rigid advocates on both sides," she says in an interview with the local newspaper.
The law cost friendships.
The smaller part of the non-vaccinated employees felt under a lot of pressure, on the other hand there were colleagues who were convinced of the vaccination.
"Without questioning why others do not want to be vaccinated or cannot be vaccinated."
It was felt to be unfair that only healthcare staff were held accountable.
"Many have asked themselves: What about our protection?" said the hygiene officer.
The vulnerable groups should also have been made responsible.
"But the law was quickly knitted."
Still different test regulations for vaccinated and non-vaccinated
Greinwald has been vaccinated three times, she describes herself as an "absolute vaccination advocate".
Nevertheless, she is relieved that compulsory vaccination in the health sector is now being phased out.
The different test concepts for vaccinated and non-vaccinated people will remain in place - even beyond January 1st.
Non-immunized employees of the hospital GmbH have to test themselves daily at work, their immunized colleagues, on the other hand - i.e. vaccinated or recovered - only twice a week.
"It has become routine," says Greinwald when asked whether the procedure is long outdated.
The regulation should apply until Easter, based on the current Infection Protection Act.
The situation is checked every two weeks.
The hospital GmbH initially assumed that non-immunized employees would no longer be allowed to work from March 15 - that turned out to be wrong.
"We haven't had any feedback for a long time on how Bavaria is dealing with compulsory vaccination," says Greinwald.
The hygiene officer knows of an employee who quit her job because of compulsory vaccination.
"If the obligation had really been enforced - several employees would have resigned."
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