The day after the mandatory vaccination debacle in the Bundestag, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach explained the corona situation as usual. Outwardly unmoved, he announces his worrying message.
After the Bundestag’s decision against compulsory corona vaccination, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) no longer sees any possibility of further reducing the containment measures against the pandemic. “We used up what we could do to loosen up,” he said in Berlin. There is “no leeway” for further steps.
With the current containment measures based on the Infection Protection Act, the country will “certainly not make ends meet in the fall,” added Lauterbach. For example, “it is very likely” that it will not work without the reintroduction of a mask requirement in many areas. So the law needs to be changed again.
Lauterbach: Vaccination would have been urgently needed
If compulsory vaccination had been decided, “more freedom in the Infection Protection Act” would probably have been possible, said Lauterbach. In his view, compulsory vaccination would have been “urgently necessary”.
A draft law for compulsory corona vaccination for everyone over 60 failed on Thursday in the Bundestag. “It was a bad week for protecting the population from the corona infection,” said Lauterbach. The Bundestag decision was “a clear and also bitter defeat for all those who advocate compulsory vaccination”, including for himself.
At the same time, it is bad news for the health workers who look after corona patients and for all members of vulnerable groups. It is also “sad news” in relation to the serious illnesses and deaths that could have been prevented by compulsory vaccination.
No new attempt for vaccination
Lauterbach confirmed that he wanted to hold further talks in the Bundestag on the subject of compulsory vaccination. But he was “very skeptical,” he admitted. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously ruled out any new attempt at compulsory vaccination: the statement by Parliament was very clear, said the SPD politician in Berlin. “There is no legislative majority in the Bundestag for mandatory vaccination. That is the reality that we must now take as a starting point for our actions.”
At the same time, Lauterbach announced that he wanted to “take another creative campaign for the vaccination”. “If we do it creatively and well,” the vaccination rate could be increased by autumn.
Lauterbach said about the current corona situation that the number of new infections was currently declining significantly. “We have now entered a relatively stable decline in the number of cases.” However, it does not look so good in the case of serious illnesses and deaths.
Source: Stern
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