Christian Fett does not have much hope that he will still be able to convince his unvaccinated employees.

He heads the St. Lioba senior center in Villingen-Schwenningen, deep in the south of Baden-Württemberg.

At almost 90 percent, the vaccination rate in his house is actually quite good, he thinks - but the last 10 percent are quite stubborn against the corona vaccination.

When the facility-related vaccination requirement comes into effect on March 16, some of them will probably go, he fears: "We will lose nurses."

Britta Beeger

Editor in business.

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Specifically, it involves ten employees, including four specialist nurses, three of whom work full-time and two have additional qualifications in demand for instructing trainees and dealing with people with dementia.

There are also some nursing assistants and employees from the ward kitchens and cleaning.

Home manager Fett had personal conversations with everyone, and he plans to make another attempt in the next few days.

Will it do anything?

"We're worried about how we can do this well from mid-March."

Last persuasion work

As in Villingen-Schwenningen, nursing homes, outpatient services, clinics, medical practices and emergency services are currently preparing for mandatory vaccination throughout Germany. They hold discussions, distribute information material, make vaccination offers. By March 15, all employees in such facilities - doctors, nurses, caretakers, technicians - must present their employer with proof of vaccination or recovery. If they do not do this, the employer must inform the health department, which can prohibit employment in the facilities. This is what it says in the law that the Bundestag and Bundesrat passed in mid-December. In practice, this should mean that employers release unvaccinated employees without a salary.

Even if every single person who walks in care hurts: So far, there is no sign that the health system is losing massive numbers of employees because of the mandatory vaccination - even in other countries such as France, where there is already compulsory vaccination for caregivers, that was not the case the case.

"There can be no question of an exodus," says Tobias Berghoff, member of the board of the Caritas Association Dortmund and chairman of the working group for Catholic geriatric care in the Archdiocese of Paderborn, which represents around 230 nursing homes and day care as well as 110 outpatient services with more than 13,000 employees.

In these facilities, 90 to 95 percent of the employees are vaccinated, reports Berghoff.

"And we will still reach the last ones."

The shortage of skilled workers is reinforced

The German Caritas Association has also only known about individual carers who have expressed their intention to terminate. The compulsory vaccination is only one factor among several, the high workload and lack of staff also play a role, says a spokeswoman. Again and again these days, however, home porters who see the supply endangered have spoken up. In Lower Franconia, Diakonie, Arbeiterwohlfahrt and Caritas have sent a letter to members of the state parliament in which they warn of the "catastrophic consequences" of the facility-related vaccination requirement and demand a general vaccination requirement. Then unvaccinated staff could no longer switch to other positions. The vaccination was advertised a lot and in some hospitals a high rate was achieved, they write, but in others it is only 70 percent.