future advisor to GermanyOlaf Schultz announced on Tuesday (30) that a bill on mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 It will be presented to Parliament before the end of the year.
With this change of situation, the government hopes to persuade as many citizens as possible to get vaccinated before vaccination becomes necessary.
“A lot of people haven’t been vaccinated yet,” Schultz told Bild TV. According to him, making vaccination mandatory serves to “protect everyone”.
A mandatory Covid-19 vaccine was recently approved for healthcare professionals and the military, and is expected to come into force soon.
If the new law is adopted by the German parliament by the end of this year, the measure can be applied to everyone from February or March 2022.
So far, Germany has ruled out taking such a step, fearing that its imposition would anger the segment of the population resistant to the restrictions against the epidemic.
However, the An example from neighboring Austria, which recently mandated immunization for all eligible citizens from February 2022, has brought the debate back to the fore once again.
The current chancellor, Angela Merkel, refused to pass a law at the end of her term addressing this controversial issue.
Schulz also avoided addressing the demand during the election campaign, fearing it would lose votes. However, on Tuesday, the Social Democrat openly expressed support for the measure.
“Everyone agrees on the very serious situation in this fourth wave of the epidemic, which is sometimes dramatic at the regional level,” said a statement issued by the German chancellor on Tuesday, days before the end of Merkel’s term.
The health situation creates a strong pressure on the health system, with an infection rate of 452.2 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population.
The document states that “by Christmas it will be possible to provide 30 million primary, secondary and strengthening doses.” The chancellery also indicated that the third injection of the immunizing agent was recently opened to different age groups of the population.
According to a recent survey, compulsory vaccination is supported by 64% of Germans. To date, 57 million people have completed the country’s vaccination schedule, which is equivalent to 68.5% of the population.
On Tuesday, Germany’s Constitutional Court welcomed requests from regional governments to overturn the illegality of restrictions that were considered radical at the start of the pandemic, such as curfews, school closures and restrictions on movement.
At the same time, many German regions hard hit by the new wave of Covid-19 have canceled their Christmas fairs and prevented unvaccinated people from accessing public places such as gymnasiums and entertainment centers.
Parliament is expected to discuss other measures from Thursday (2), such as restrictions on contacting unvaccinated people even in meetings and face-to-face meetings.
“It’s quite clear that interactions have to be reduced,” said future vice chancellor, ecologist Robert Habeck.
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