NAfter more than two years, a number of state corona restrictions were lifted in many places on Sunday. In most federal states, despite the continued high number of infections, citizens no longer have to wear a mask in shops unless the shop operators continue to demand this through their domiciliary rights. Access restrictions for people without immune protection against the corona virus are also no longer applicable in many places. This was made possible by a controversial change in the Infection Protection Act. Only in Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania do many restrictions continue to apply.
Politicians and experts have called on citizens not to leave the masks indoors for the time being. “FFP2 masks in particular offer a very high level of protection and should therefore continue to be worn voluntarily in certain situations,” said Brandenburg Health Minister Ursula Nonnemacher (Greens) on Sunday in Potsdam. “Protect yourself and your loved ones by keeping your distance, observing hygiene, wearing a mask indoors and ventilating regularly.”
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said wearing masks “remains useful”. In Bavaria, numerous hospitals called on citizens to remain cautious. People with immunodeficiency and the elderly with previous illnesses must continue to be “protected as well as possible”, warned the President of the Chamber of Pharmacists in Saxony-Anhalt, Jens-Andreas Münch. The teachers’ association even warned against bullying. “Indeed, there is now a danger that, on the one hand, children who wear masks will be teased by classmates as wimps and overly anxious, or, conversely, that pressure will be exerted on non-mask wearers,” said association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger of the German press agency.
A few days before the decisive vote in the Bundestag, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (both SPD) again spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination for all adults. During an election campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia, Scholz once again campaigned for a “mandatory proof of vaccination for everyone”. Lauterbach said on Deutschlandfunk: “I still hope that this will work.”
According to information from coalition circles, however, there is still no majority in sight for one of the motions for the open vote on Thursday. Several politicians from the traffic light parties who want to introduce compulsory vaccination advice and possible vaccinations for over 50-year-olds warned on Sunday that the Bundestag could not decide anything at all. “In this case, the current vaccination gap would remain,” said the FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann of the FAZ. The decision should not be determined by party politics. The Green MP Paula Piechotta told the FAZ: “You can’t expect people to have another Corona autumn.” Parliament must come to a “constructive solution”.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, on the other hand, sees a possible failure calmly. “If there is no compulsory vaccination in Germany for the time being, we would be in good company in the world,” says the CDU chairman’s Twitter account. So far, the parties in the traffic light government have not had a majority, and the Union’s alternative proposal has been rejected.
The German Association of Cities has warned of the failure of the general vaccination requirement. “We risk many serious illnesses again in the fall if vaccination is not compulsory,” said general manager Helmut Dedy to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “If there is no majority for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18, we need compulsory vaccination from the age of 50 as a compromise. the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”.