Is the corona vaccination coming - and if so, for whom?

This is the question this Thursday in the Bundestag.

The vote on the possible introduction of compulsory vaccination was announced as a decision of conscience, detached from the usual group discipline.

Nevertheless, in the past few days, warnings have been raised that voting should not be about party politics.

MPs can choose between one bill and three motions.

It was unclear until shortly before the debate began whether one of them would get a majority.

Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in Politics.

  • Follow I follow

The compromise: compulsory vaccination from the age of 60

The draft law on “pandemic prevention through education, mandatory vaccination advice and immunization of the population against Sars-CoV-2” has the best chances.

According to the latest amendment by the Health Committee, it provides for compulsory vaccination from 60 years, which will take effect on October 15th.

Until then, all older people must prove that they have been vaccinated against the corona virus.

If the vaccination rate increases rapidly as a result of the introduction of the obligation, the Bundestag should be able to suspend the obligation to vaccinate in June.

In autumn, the parliament should then decide "whether the activation of the vaccination certificate for age groups from 18 years should also take effect," as it says in a statement.

The initiators of the compromise are the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese and the health politician of the Greens, Janosch Dahmen.

Both had initially sought to introduce compulsory vaccination for all adults.

This draft has so far been supported by 237 MPs, but there was no foreseeable majority for it in the Bundestag recently.

It provided for compulsory vaccination for all adults, and the corresponding proof had to be presented from October 1st.

People who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and pregnant women in the first trimester were exempt from the obligation to vaccinate – both exceptions had to be certified by a doctor.

The regulation should be reviewed every three months, and the obligation to vaccinate should be limited to the end of the coming year.

Anyone who has not been vaccinated from October

could be subject to a fine of up to 25,000 euros.

The possibility that a vaccination refuser would be arrested was excluded.

The second group that supports the compromise is a group around the FDP MP Andrew Ullmann.

She had initially presented a draft law that would only make vaccination compulsory for people aged 50 and over.

It should take effect if the vaccination rate of currently almost 76 percent over the summer does not increase in any other way.

45 MPs from the traffic light groups recently supported the bill.

It stipulated that the vaccination campaign would first be expanded again, and that the health insurance companies should inform their policyholders about "advice and vaccination options". Show proof of vaccination or be able to show that he or she has sought vaccination advice from a doctor.

If the vaccination rate does not increase sufficiently, the Bundestag should decide in good time before a further wave of infections is to be expected for the autumn and winter of 2022/2023 that people aged 50 and over should be vaccinated.

The draft did not specify precise criteria.