With 399.8 cases of coronavirus per seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, the positivity index in Germany sets a new negative record. It is expected that the health condition will worsen even more. At the same time the vaccination campaign is not proceeding to the extent that circumstances would require. So far only 68% of the population has been vaccinated. According to epidemiologists, in order to achieve “herd immunity” at least 85% of the population must have been vaccinated or recovered from coronavirus. For days now, German public opinion has been debating the introduction of compulsory vaccination, following the example of Austria.
Politics is “wanted” – the legal pro
The German political world is divided over the imposition of compulsory vaccination. The differences are not expressed between, but within the parties. To the Christian Democrats, for example, Health Secretary Jens Spann and Chancellor Helge Brown are rejecting compulsory vaccination because such a measure would divide society. On the other hand, a number of Christian Democrat Prime Ministers and the Christian Socialist Prime Minister of Bavaria, Marcus Zeder, are in favor of compulsory vaccination because, as they claim, only in this way will citizens regain the freedoms that are now restricted. The Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals, the three parties that intend to form the new government, have not yet taken a stand. However, their executives express conflicting views.
In contrast to the political world, there is a majority trend in legal circles. The prevailing view among constitutionalists that has so far been publicly expressed is that the Constitution allows for the imposition of compulsory vaccination. As Frans Meyer, a professor at the University of Bielefeld, put it: “Individual freedom stops where the freedom and health of others are threatened.” This view is also supported by the Ministry of Justice. A spokesman described compulsory vaccination as a last resort that could not be ruled out and was in line with the Constitution.
DW – Panagiotis Kouparanis, Berlin
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