“A subject of such seriousness requires taking the time to debate”, we recognize in the SPD, the majority party, that of Chancellor Scholz. Compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 is debated in Germany: even if 60% of Germans say they are in favor of it, the figure tends to drop over the weeks. Olaf Scholz had made this proposal just after his election, even though he was opposed to it during his campaign. The conservative CDU/CSU camp of former Chancellor Angela Merkel also supported this proposal.
But a month later, the Bundestag remains divided on this measure. The debates which begin on Wednesday 26 January. If Austria will become the first European country to make vaccination compulsory from the beginning of February, Germany could come, but not before the end of March.
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The new Chancellor Scholz has therefore chosen not to rush things, but as one of the deputies from his camp, Nezahat Baradari, also a pediatrician, says, solidarity must come into play, it is inevitable, everyone must be vaccinated. “We really bet for two years on volunteering. But we can no longer impose this on our system and on our young people. There are children who still cannot read and write properly.”
“In Germany alone we are over 100,000 dead. Our economy is collapsing. We can no longer continue to pump money into the system.”
Nezahat Baradari, SPD MPat franceinfo
Among the majority, we feel a lot of discomfort. Less among the SPD and the Greens, more among the liberals of the FDP. On behalf of his group, Andrew Ullmann, MP and doctor, will make a compromise offer. “We first propose an obligation to informhe explains. Every unvaccinated adult receives a mandatory appointment so that they can be vaccinated as soon as they are informed. Not informed in his bubble on the internet, but by a professional. If this action does not close our vaccination gaps, the next step will be to make it mandatory, especially for the most vulnerable people.”
Only one parliamentary group is totally opposed to this project, the extreme right. For AfD MP Christina Baum, it is “it is unimaginable for a State to be master of the body of its citizens”.
“In my opinion, this is not at all compatible with human dignity and the fundamental right to life in general. It is really a red line that has been crossed.”
Christina Baum, AfD MPat franceinfo
This MP, who is also a dentist who works in a practice alongside her husband, is not vaccinated and wonders what she is going to do after March 15, because health personnel are the first group for whom vaccination will become compulsory.