Compulsory vaccination: Doctors and clinics are in favor of a compromise

Before the decision on compulsory vaccination next Thursday in the Bundestag, stakeholders in the healthcare system have called for a compromise. “If there is no majority for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18, we need compulsory vaccination from the age of 50 as a compromise,” said the President of the German Hospital Society, Gerald Gass, of the “Welt am Sonntag”. Those who protect themselves in this way from a severe course “relieve the capacity in the hospital”.

“If there is no compulsory vaccination at all, the facility-related compulsory vaccination is also an option,” Gass continued. This can then no longer be explained to the affected hospital employees.

The President of the Federal Chamber, Klaus Reinhardt, also considers such a compromise to be sensible. Mandatory vaccinations from the age of 50 “would be a good step to prevent the health system from being overloaded,” he told the newspaper. It captures the age group that carries an increased risk of infection, hospitalization and severe disease progression.

Vaccination is controversial. Next Thursday, the Bundestag is to make a final decision on whether vaccination against the corona virus will be compulsory, for whom it should apply and how it could be implemented. However, it was recently unclear which of the competing models would get a majority. On the table are, among other things, applications for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18 and from the age of 50 with a prior obligation to provide advice – but there are also applications against any obligation.

In the vote next week, the Union wants to vote unanimously for its own proposal, which provides for a later decision on a possible vaccination requirement. CDU and Union faction leader Friedrich Merz tweeted on Saturday that there were “better reasons for compulsory vaccination” at the beginning of the year. An overload of the hospitals is currently “not observable”.