Germany determines mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 for all health workers

A law passed in parliament German this Friday, 10, determines the mandatory vaccination of workers in hospitals, offices and nursing homes in the European country until mid-March. From this date, the presentation of proof of immunization or recovery from the Covid-19 will be required for area officials as a measure to try to spare the most vulnerable from contamination by the disease. “It is absolutely unacceptable that in establishments in which people trust the lives of their loved ones, there are people dying needlessly because of unvaccinated workers”, said the country’s new Health Minister, Karl Lauterbach, in defending the mandatory vaccination in the face of Bundestag.

In addition to the obligation to immunize, the law tries to make the vaccine more accessible to the population of the country, allowing it to be applied by veterinarians, dentists and pharmacists for a short period of time and allowing the 16 states autonomy to close bars and restaurants, as well as ban events in cases of outbreaks of infections in the regions. This is one of the first acts related to Covid-19 taken exclusively by the government of the new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who had already indicated an interest in making vaccination mandatory in Germany. Shortly before leaving office, Angela Merkel agreed to implement a kind of “unvaccinated lockdown,” which only allows people who have not been immunized to enter pharmacies and supermarkets across the country. Fearing the Ômicron variant, Germany has a relatively low immunization rate compared to other European countries, with less than 70% of people on both doses.