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Berlin (dpa) - The AfD parliamentary group leader Alexander Gauland has no general reservations about vaccinations.

But he and his party reject an obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19.

"I have basically nothing against compulsory vaccination, for example when it comes to compulsory measles vaccination for school children," he told the German press agency.

When it comes to the Covid 19 vaccination, however, there are major reservations in parts of the population that must be taken into account.

"Personally, I haven't given myself any thought about whether I'll be vaccinated or not," added Gauland.

The honorary chairman of the AfD will be 80 years old in February and is therefore not yet part of the group with the highest priority who should be offered a vaccination first.

Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had emphasized several times that there would be no compulsory corona vaccination.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) appealed to citizens to take the opportunity to get vaccinated.

The aim is herd immunity.

If many people do not get vaccinated, everyone will have to wear mouth and nose protection for a long time.

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According to a spokesman, the AfD parliamentary group recently had four corona infected people in its ranks.

Several members of the parliamentary group and employees of the parliamentary group had defended themselves against the obligation imposed by Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) to wear a mask in the Bundestag.

The AfD is repeatedly criticized by the other parties in the Bundestag.

"Still hands are shaken and masks are not worn properly," said the Green politician Britta Haßelmann of the editorial network Germany (RND / Saturday) about the AfD in the Bundestag.

"That is unacceptable and irresponsible behavior."

The right-wing populists had also opposed many measures taken by the federal government to contain the pandemic.

"If I now hear that Mr. Spahn also says that he did some things differently with the knowledge he had today in the spring, then that means for me that we were not wrong," said Gauland.

He added: “The old and the sick need to be protected, this is better than shutting down the whole country.

I think that is reasonable, even if I belong to this group myself. "

An effective and simple measure would be, for example, special shopping hours for older people.

The Federal Government's Eastern Commissioner, Marco Wanderwitz (CDU), accused the AfD of being a driver of the corona pandemic.

«This party denies Corona and calls for the hygiene rules not to be observed.

Unfortunately, this leads to increased contagion where many AfD supporters live.

This can now be seen in Saxony and is endangering the population, "said Wanderwitz the RND.