Uncancelled vaccination appointments: Federal government rejects penalties for “vaccinating truants”

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn (both CDU) have pointed out the importance of vaccinations in view of the rapidly spreading, more aggressive delta variant of the corona virus. According to information from the German Press Agency from participants in the last regular deliberations of the CDU leadership before the summer break in Berlin, Merkel said that the vaccination quota should be 80 percent. Unvaccinated children in particular would still be vulnerable in the fall. At the same time, she pointed out that hospitalization in the Delta variant is not so high in other countries.

The federal government is not planning any fines for so-called truants, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin.

“Vaccination appointments are valuable,” he said and appealed to all people who would not or could not keep an appointment to cancel it as soon as possible.

"We want to motivate and not deter"

At the weekend there was a discussion about fines for skipped vaccination appointments.

"It would be right if there were a penalty for those who do not even cancel their appointment," said SPD health specialist Karl Lauterbach of the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Politicians from the CDU and SPD suggested imposing a fine of 25 to 35 euros on all those who miss their appointment for the second vaccination in a vaccination center without refusal.

The Federal Ministry of Health turned against demands for fines on Monday.

"We want to motivate and not deter," said a ministry spokeswoman.

The municipal umbrella organizations also spoke out against sanctions for skipped vaccination appointments.

According to the Robert Koch Institute and the Ministry of Health, 56.5 percent of the German population had received at least one vaccination dose by Sunday, so 38.9 percent were fully vaccinated.

If the vaccination protection has fully built up, the vaccinated have a high level of protection against hospital treatment, even against the Delta variant, according to the current state of knowledge.

Spahn: The rate of vaccination is decreasing

According to participants, Spahn said on Monday in the CDU presidium that the vaccination campaign was going well, but the pace was slowing.

In the vaccination centers, the appointments are not immediately gone, but are available for a while.

He advocated combining vaccination offers with activities of the people, for example a visit to the stadium.

To be vaccinated must make a difference to not being vaccinated.

Booster vaccinations could be offered in the fall due to capacity, said Spahn, according to participants.

With regard to the reporting obligations, new parameters would increasingly be included in the statistics, for example not only the occupancy of the intensive care beds, but also the hospital stay.

The topic of the corona development in schools will come with force after the summer holidays, said Spahn.

The Hessian Prime Minister and Deputy CDU Federal Chairman Volker Bouffier was quoted as saying that the schools must remain open at all costs.

There should be no speculation about this.

The deputy CDU chairman and Baden-Württemberg interior minister Thomas Strobl said that he was depressed by the corona situation.

There are full stadiums, the "Ballermann" on Mallorca is open, planes are filled to the last seat.

From an infection point of view, this is dangerous.

The President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble, made a similar statement.

The corona situation between the end of the holiday and the federal election at the end of September must be controllable, he warned.