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Bavaria and Saxony see highest number of Covid-19 vaccination centre offences

Since jabs against the coronavirus began, there have been attacks on Covid-19 vaccination centres or disruptions to vaccination campaigns in all of Germany's 16 federal states bar Hamburg. However, Saxony and Bavaria have been particularly badly affected.

Published: 25 September 2021 19:41 CEST

Bavaria and Saxony see highest number of Covid-19 vaccination centre offences

Across Germany, there have been at least 190 incidents connected with vaccinations against Covid-19 that were relevant to the police, according to a survey of Germany’s ministries, state criminal police offices and an association of statutory health insurance physicians carried out by the Evangelical Press Service (epd).

The northern state of Hamburg, however, reported that nothing “serious” was known in connection to offences against vaccination centres or campaigns.

In Schleswig-Holstein, meanwhile, the state prosector was currently investigating two threats made to school staff in connection with vaccination campaigns: a threat of violence to a school teacher in one school and an incitement to murder against the school management and teaching staff of another in a Telegram app chat group.

Several states, including Bavaria and Hessen, also saw disruption to their vaccination campaigns during the Germany-wide vaccination campaign week from September 13th to 19th.

But Bavaria and Saxony saw the largest number of cases. According to its interior ministry, Bavaria has seen 56 vaccination centre-related criminal acts since December 2020 while Saxony has had 54 this year alone.

Germany-wide, the offences involved threats, insults, physical attacks and even an arson attack at a centre in Saxony, although they mostly consisted of damage to property, especially graffiti.

In Saarland, for example, the lettering of the word “Impfzentrum” (vaccination centre) was turned into “Giftzentrum” (poison centre), although this was the state’s only case. Bremen also only had one case.

This is perhaps not surprising as Bremen and Saarland top Germany’s states in terms of the number of vaccinations administered.

Graffiti reading “Giftspritze” (lethal injection) near a vaccination centre in Treptow, Berlin. picture alliance/dpa | Christophe Gateau

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Italy's constitutional court upholds Covid vaccine mandate as fines kick in

Judges were asked this week to determine whether or not vaccine mandates introduced by the previous government during the pandemic – which applied to healthcare and school staff as well as over-50s – breached the fundamental rights set out by Italy’s constitution.

Italy became the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for healthcare workers to be vaccinated, ruling in 2021 that they must have the jab or be transferred to other roles or suspended without pay.

The Constitutional Court upheld the law in a ruling published on Thursday, saying it considered the government’s requirement for healthcare personnel to be vaccinated during the pandemic period neither unreasonable nor disproportionate.

Judges ruled other questions around the issue as inadmissible “for procedural reasons”, according to a court statement published on Thursday.

This was the first time the Italian Constitutional Court had ruled on the issue, after several regional courts previously dismissed challenges to the vaccine obligation on constitutional grounds.

Photo by Pascal GUYOT / AFP

One Lazio regional administrative court ruled in March 2022 that the question of constitutional compatibility was “manifestly unfounded”.

Such appeals usually centre on the question of whether the vaccine requirement can be justified in order to protect the ‘right to health’ as enshrined in the Italian Constitution.

READ ALSO: Italy allows suspended anti-vax doctors to return to work

Meanwhile, fines kicked in from Thursday, December 1st, for almost two million people in Italy who were required to get vaccinated under the mandate but refused.

This includes teachers, law enforcement and healthcare workers, and the over 50s, who face fines of 100 euros each under rules introduced in 2021.

Thursday was the deadline to justify non-compliance with the vaccination mandate due to health reasons, such as having contracted Covid during that period.

Italy’s health minister on Friday however appeared to suggest that the new government may choose not to enforce the fines.

“It could cost more for the state to collect the fines” than the resulting income, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci told Radio Rai 1.

He went on to say that it was a matter for the Economy and Finance Ministry, but suggested that the government was drawing up an amendment to the existing law.

READ ALSO: Covid vaccines halved Italy’s death toll, study finds

The League, one of the parties which comprises the new hard-right government, is pushing for fines for over-50s to be postponed until June 30th 2023.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had promised a clear break with her predecessor’s health policies, after her Brothers of Italy party railed against the way Mario Draghi’s government handled the pandemic in 2021 when it was in opposition.

At the end of October, shortly after taking office, the new government allowed doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to return to work earlier than planned after being suspended for refusing the Covid vaccine.

There has been uncertainty about the new government’s stance after the deputy health minister in November cast doubt on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, saying he was “not for or against” vaccination.

Italy’s health ministry continues to advise people in at-risk groups to get a booster jab this winter, and this week stressed in social media posts that vaccination against Covid-19 and seasonal flu remained “the most effective way to protect ourselves and our loved ones, especially the elderly and frail”.

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