Chancellor Olaf Scholz has raised great expectations with his announcement that vaccination will be compulsory from the beginning of February. As a report now shows, these will with great certainty remain unfulfilled.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had expressed a general at the end of November Compulsory vaccination Want to introduce “from the beginning of February” or from “the beginning of March”. As the “Tagesspiegel” learned from coalition circles, this goal can no longer be met.
The reasons given are, on the one hand, the schedule of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat and, on the other hand, complicated legal issues. An orientation debate on the subject of the Bundestag take place. According to “Tagesspiegel” information, a decision is expected from March 14th at the earliest Federal Council could then probably not agree until its April 8th session.
Vaccination could come in early May
Without special meetings, compulsory vaccination could therefore not come into force before the beginning of May. The establishment of a central vaccination register would further delay the start.
In an interview with the Tagesspiegel, Dirk Wiese, who is responsible for the mandatory vaccination project in the SPD parliamentary group, said: “We should conclude the deliberations in the Bundestag in the first quarter” – the first quarter ends at the end of March. That is a demanding schedule, “since we only have one week of meetings, especially in February”. With a view to possible delays, Wiese emphasized that the compulsory vaccination does not have a short-term effect anyway, but is “in perspective a precaution for the coming autumn and winter”.
The leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, emphasized: “This is not an easy decision, it means a deep intervention.” In the groups it must first be discussed what ideas there are. “And then we can hold the public debate in the Bundestag at the end of January,” said Haßelmann to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Sunday). The question is “so relevant and extensive” that it needs “sound and very careful advice”. Hasselmann himself spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination.
Justice Minister sets the pace
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann is more optimistic. The Federal Minister of Justice is speeding up the debate on mandatory vaccination. “The Bundestag should decide quickly whether a mandatory vaccination will be introduced. And if so, for whom,” said Buschmann of “Bild am Sonntag” and, if the MPs approve, announced that it would be implemented quickly. “Legislative processes usually take six to twelve months.
The decision on compulsory vaccination will be much quicker. “For reasons of time, Buschmann refuses to introduce a vaccination register for compulsory vaccination.” That would take far too long. It will probably take years to introduce a national vaccination register. “
The City Council also urges the rapid introduction of a general compulsory vaccination. “In order to leave the pandemic behind us, we have to be vaccinated for the most part, we can probably only do that with a general vaccination requirement,” said Markus Lewe, President of the City Council, of the newspapers of the Funke media group.
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