Yahoo Finance Covid 19: Germany considers making vaccines compulsory as infections soar
German politicians are debating making Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory for citizens in light of soaring infections and low inoculation rates.
Several members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government said on Sunday that compulsory vaccinations should be imposed soon as other efforts to push up Germany’s low inoculation rate of just 68 per cent have failed.
Neighbouring Austria this week announced a plan to make vaccines compulsory next year.
“We’ve reached a point at which we must clearly say that we need de facto compulsory vaccination and a lockdown for the unvaccinated,” Tilman Kuban, head of the youth wing of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), wrote in Die Welt newspaper.
Germany’s seven-day coronavirus incidence rate rose to the highest level since the pandemic began for the 14th consecutive day on Sunday, reaching 372.7 nationwide.
In some regions, it has surpassed 1,000 with some hospitals already reporting full intensive care units. The record in the third wave of the pandemic last December was 197.6.
Overall, there have been 5.35 million coronavirus infections reported in Germany since the start of the pandemic in February 2020. The overall death toll stands at 99,062.
Bavarian State Premier Markus Soeder called for a quick decision to make Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory while Schleswig-Holstein State Premier Daniel Guenther said authorities should at least discuss such a step to increase the pressure on unvaccinated citizens.
Danyal Bayaz, an influential member of the Greens and Finance Minister in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg where infection rates are very high, said it would be a mistake at this point of the pandemic to rule out compulsory vaccination.
The Greens are currently in talks with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) to form a three-way coalition government on the federal level.
The three parties are in the final stages of sealing a coalition agreement which would pave the way for outgoing Finance Minister Olaf Scholz from the SPD to succeed Merkel as chancellor in the first half of December.
Scholz has said he wants a debate about whether to make vaccination compulsory for health care workers and geriatric nurses. FDP members have voiced their objections to such a step as the party puts a bigger emphasis on individual freedom.
Read More
A controversial ‘2G’ system and vaccine politics - Germany enters its fourth wave
Wales joins Scotland in vaccinating half of 12 to 15-year-olds
Number of pupils off school due to Covid-19 fell after October half-term
