Bavaria does not want to implement compulsory vaccination for nursing staff for the time being. Karl Lauterbach sharply criticized Prime Minister Markus Söder’s plans.
Frankfurt – Despite the still high number of corona cases in Germany, Bavaria is planning to relax the corona measures. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has announced that he will not implement the planned facility-related compulsory vaccination for the time being. This has met with harsh criticism.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach in particular criticized this approach. The SPD politician sees the suspension of compulsory vaccination for nursing staff as a threat to the credibility of politics.
Corona vaccination requirement: is Söder bowing to the corona protests on the street?
At the Corona press conference with RKI boss Lothar Wieler on Tuesday (February 8th, 2022), the Minister of Health appealed: “There must also be a will to implement the law.” The Minister of Health also expressed a lack of understanding for unvaccinated nurses. Lauterbach criticized the fact that medical staff were refusing a corona vaccination as unacceptable. Employees in the care facilities can be expected to make a rational and well-informed decision about a corona vaccination. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder sent a “dangerous signal” by suspending the facility-related vaccination requirement, Lauterbach said.
Söder gives the impression that he is bowing to the corona protests on the street. With his decision, the Prime Minister of Bavaria is sending out the signal that “the protest against the facility-related compulsory vaccination on the street is more important than protecting people who are waiting helplessly for good care,” said Lauterbach.
It is also “difficult to convey” when a prime minister simply says that the laws in force in his country are not being implemented. Lauterbach said he hopes that the federal government will find a solution with the states to implement compulsory vaccination.
Lauterbach on compulsory corona vaccination: “People in need of care must be protected”
“Lax enforcement rules for facility-related compulsory vaccination can not only endanger the lives of older people with weak immune systems,” Lauterbach had already replied on Monday (February 7th, 2022) to Söder’s announcement that he did not want to implement the facility-related compulsory vaccination. The people in need of care in the homes would have to be given special protection.
According to the Minister of Health, Lauterbach and Söder have not yet spoken personally about Bavaria’s decision to make compulsory corona vaccinations for work: “I was surprised by the embassy yesterday,” said Lauterbach on Tuesday (February 8th, 2022). (Helena Gries)
List of rubrics: © Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
