On Tuesday, Germany’s health minister slammed proposals from Germany’s biggest opposition party to halt the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for health workers, claiming that doing so would send a dangerous message that authorities are bowing in to anti-vaccine protesters.
The legislation requiring employees at hospitals and senior homes to be immunised against the coronavirus was approved by Parliament in December, with the main center-right opposition Union group among those voting in favour. By mid-March, those personnel must verify they are fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19, according to the new regulation.
However, several local officials have recently complained that they lack the means to put it into action and that the guidelines are confusing.
Bavaria’s conservative governor announced on Monday that he will not enforce the rule, at least for the time being, citing staff shortages as a reason.
Tino Sorge, the Union bloc’s spokesman for health policy, told the daily Bild on Tuesday that the federal government should recognise the new standards are “barely practicable at the present.” He stated that the mandate should be put on hold across the country “until major legal and practical problems are resolved.”
The opposition’s approach, according to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, is “extremely problematic,” because the goal is to safeguard vulnerable people, not harass medical workers.
“This conveys the message that we value protests against the facility-specific vaccine mandate more than protecting these (vulnerable) people,” Lauterbach added.
The minister went on to say that authorities have been expecting the public to comply with well-founded coronavirus limitations for months, and that governors implying that the rules don’t apply to them is “a very hazardous signal.” State governments are responsible for enforcing the laws under German law.
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