Anyone who is of legal age and not fully vaccinated against the corona virus on October 1 must expect a fine. This is what the group application for compulsory vaccination provides for, which seven members of the Bundestag from the SPD, Greens and FDP submitted on Friday. These are the SPD deputies Dirk Wiese, Heike Baehrens and Dagmar Schmidt, the Greens Janosch Dahmen and Till Steffen as well as Katrin Helling-Plahr and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann from the FDP.
They have agreed on a template according to which the health insurance companies collect the vaccination status of their members. The health insurers should first write to all adult insured persons by May 15th and inform them about the vaccination – including the fact that the vaccination will soon be mandatory. From October 1st, everyone over the age of 18 will have to prove their vaccination. You can do this, for example, by uploading your vaccination card to your health insurance company. It should also be possible to present the vaccination card at the pharmacy, which will forward the information. Excluded from the regulation are people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and women at the beginning of pregnancy.
The bill requires three vaccinations. One of these may be omitted if the person concerned has a recovered status. Until then, the federal government should check the effectiveness every three months and report to the Bundestag.
“We need the obligation to provide proof of vaccination in order to reach those who have not yet been vaccinated,” said SPD MP Heike Baehrens, explaining the procedure. The group assumes that the infection situation will worsen in the autumn, making it necessary to increase the vaccination rate, which is currently 75 percent, to more than 90 percent. The law should therefore be passed by the end of March at the latest.
The draft also provides for sanctions – including fines. Before such measures are taken, however, those affected should be informed of the possibility of vaccination advice and free vaccination. You should also be given the opportunity to submit proof within a reasonable period of time. The ordering of detention to enforce measures should be expressly excluded.
The seven MPs are the first to present their draft on compulsory vaccination. There is another group around the FDP MP Andrew Ullmann, who are working on a draft for compulsory vaccination from the age of 50. There was also an initiative by the Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP), which is strictly against compulsory vaccination. However, both groups have not yet submitted a concrete draft. The initiative of the seven MPs from the SPD, Greens and FDP left open whether their draft will be submitted to the Bundestag for consultation next week. It makes sense to discuss all drafts together, it said on Friday.
The plan is for the law on compulsory vaccination to be passed by Parliament by the end of March.