German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced today (Thursday) that unvaccinated residents will not be allowed to enter non-essential stores and cultural and leisure institutions, and that parliament will consider imposing a general vaccination obligation as part of efforts to curb coronavirus infection, which has soared to more than 70,000 positive subjects.
After meeting with federal and local leaders, Merkel said the steps were necessary in light of fears that hospitals in Germany could be filled to capacity with severely unvaccinated patients in Corona: “The situation in our country is dire,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin, calling the move an act of solidarity. National. “
She said senior officials had also agreed to demand masking in schools, impose new restrictions on private meetings and target 30 million vaccines by the end of the year – an operation that would be stepped up by allowing dentists and pharmacists to give injections.
Merkel herself supported the controversial proposal to impose a general immunization obligation. She said parliament would discuss the proposal taking into account information from the country’s national ethics committee. If the proposal passes, it could take effect as early as February, Merkel said, adding that she would vote for if it were a Member of Parliament.
About 68.7 percent of Germany’s residents are fully vaccinated, less than the minimum of 75 percent that the government aspires to. Germany has in the past seen stormy protests against Corona’s restrictions and the duty of immunization is likely to provoke opposition from a minority in the country, although opinion polls show that most Germans support it.
Finance Minister Olaf Schultz, who is expected to be elected chancellor by the center-left coalition next week, also supported a general immunization order, but also supported legislators voting according to their personal conscience on the issue, rather than party lines: “If we had a higher vaccination rate “We would not discuss it now,” Schultz said.
The rise in infection in Corona over the past few weeks and the arrival of the new Omicron strain have led to warnings from scientists and doctors that health services in the country could be overly stretched in the coming weeks unless drastic measures are taken. Some hospitals in the south and east of the country have already transferred patients to other areas in Germany due to a shortage of beds in intensive care units.