Debate in the Bundestag: compulsory vaccination is the only reasonable way out

Is vaccination still necessary?

Not only has the mood among the population changed, but the seriousness of the situation no longer speaks from the Bundestag.

It was completely different after the federal elections, when the repeated promises made by Angela Merkel and Jens Spahn were no longer valid, that compulsory vaccination was definitely excluded.

The only remedy against the ever-new spread of the corona virus and ever new severe restrictions on public life, vaccination, had, contrary to expectations, reached its limits.

To date, too few citizens are simply getting vaccinated.

The vaccination gap is too large to rule out a lockdown.

Autumn will tell.

With the exception of the AfD, the vast majority of the Bundestag considers this analysis to be plausible.

But that is where the consensus in Parliament comes to an end.

There are essentially two arguments against a general obligation to vaccinate.

One is that it is a disproportionate encroachment on the fundamental right to physical integrity;

the vaccination does not have enough protective effect, the other.

It should be said that every change in the Infection Protection Act involved encroachments on fundamental rights that went far beyond the obligation to vaccinate.

Indeed, the protective effect of multiple vaccination is not absolute.

This will not eradicate the virus immediately.

But contagion and transmission are much more harmless than without vaccination.

With this vaccination rate, no Freedom Day

This has a major impact on the burden on hospitals.

Severe disease progression can be observed in large numbers among the unvaccinated or the insufficiently vaccinated.

Despite these experiences, the rate of vaccination - double, but certainly triple - is still far below expectations.

With this vaccination quota no Freedom Day can be made.

Having to realize after two years of lockdown that a third is looming, even though there is a crystal-clear antidote, forces political action.

However, the capacities of the hospitals cannot be expanded without having the staff to do so, nor would it be responsible to rely on the contamination of the unvaccinated.

But those who say that it is unreasonable for those who don't get vaccinated to take society hostage are also right.

The only sensible way out is compulsory vaccination.

The consequence, an overdue decision in the Bundestag, is made more difficult by the fact that the government factions do not have a majority on the matter.

Greens, SPD and parts of the FDP have agreed on a compromise.

For the majority, however, the members of the FDP, who have spoken out against compulsory vaccination, are missing.

What is curious about this compromise is that advocates of compulsory vaccinations from the age of 18 and 50 have agreed on compulsory vaccination from the age of 60.

The Union faction under pressure

This is a desperate attempt to put the Union faction under pressure.

Without votes from the ranks of the CDU and CSU, vaccination will not be compulsory.

The Union also sees 60 as the age limit, but wants a staggering according to age, professional groups and institutions depending on the situation.

The Bundestag would have to decide on this again and again.

The motion of the Union faction is thus more an expression of skepticism and indecisiveness than of conviction and clarity.

Unfortunately, it is not to be expected that this tangle will lead to compulsory vaccination that will be widely accepted.

What we are seeing is the continuation of that weak leadership line that began under Merkel with not even wanting to theoretically expect compulsory vaccination from citizens.

Even now there is talk of vaccination campaigns, personal responsibility and advice.

This has not worked so far and will not help in the future either, because the unwilling in particular refer to their personal responsibility (with the emphasis on “own”) and misunderstand every attempt by the state to teach them otherwise as a deprivation of liberty.

Nevertheless, it is quite possible that one of those "parliamentary great moments" that the Bundestag should wish for will happen this Thursday.

If there are really big questions at stake that justify refraining from group discipline, there should also be a big decision at the end.

This is only possible if the advocates of compulsory vaccination join forces.

MEPs may otherwise satisfy their pride as "government" and "opposition".

In this case, however, they would cause great damage to Parliament and the subject of the debate.

Here too, and not for the first time, Corona is forcing people to think about life and death.