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POLITICS

German MPs set out plans for over-18s vaccine mandate

A few days before the first deliberations on compulsory Covid vaccinations in the German Bundestag, politicians in favour of a vaccine mandate have set out details of their plans.

Vaccine sceptics protest in Saxony
Vaccine sceptics protest against a potential mandate in the town of Bautzen, Saxony. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Sebastian Kahnert

Speaking to DPA over the weekend, Dirk Wiese, the deputy chairman of the SPD Parliamentary Group who is working together with other politicians from the traffic coalition to flesh out proposals for the vaccine mandate, provided details of their plans.

According to Wiese, jabs could be made compulsory in Germany for anyone over the age of 18 for a limited period of one to two years. People who ignore the mandate or don’t have sufficient vaccine protection will be hit with fines. 

Though the idea of a centralised vaccine register has been floated in the past weeks, the so-called traffic light coalition parties (SPD, Greens and FDP) are keen to avoid this because it would be too time-consuming.

Instead, they would have vaccinations and exceptions checked by local public health officers.

On Friday, Wiese, together with six politicians from the Greens and the FDP, announced a group motion for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18 in a letter to all members of the Bundestag – except those of the far-right AfD party.

READ ALSO: German MPs to decide on general vaccine mandate ‘in March’

Green Party health politician Janosch Dahmen is one of the politicians tasked with shaping the legislation.

“Compulsory vaccination can make society more peaceful because it provides clarity,” he told Bild am Sonntag.

Both Dahmen and Wiese want to see fans levied on people who aren’t sufficiently vaccinated as opposed to more coercive punishments like prison sentences. 

Dirk Wiese (SPD)

Dirk Wiese (SPD) speaks in a debate on home affairs on January 12th, 2022. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

According to the Administrative Offences Acts, government fines can be set anywhere between €5 and €1,000 unless a specific law says otherwise. That means that that fines levied on the unvaccinated could be even higher.

In neighbouring Austria, where a vaccine mandate is due to come into force in February, fines are set at a maximum of €3,600. 

Dahmen has previously come out in favour of a fine “in the middle three-digit range”, while Wiese has suggested that some of the penalties could be means-tested. 

In a press conference held in December, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said that people who disobeyed vaccine mandates would face “considerable” fines.

Three shots rather than two

If the traffic light’s vaccine mandate law is voted through by parliament later this year, three jabs would be required for someone to count as fully vaccinated, rather than the previous two. 

“On the basis of current studies, one can say that with three vaccinations one has achieved a good basic immunisation against a severe course of Covid,” Wiese explained.

However, if a further booster jab is recommended for certain groups of the population later in the pandemic, this additional shot would be voluntary. 

Wiese said the duration of the vaccine mandate would be guided by advice from the Covid Council of Experts, but would likely be one to two years.

The plans laid out by the governing SPD, Greens and FDP coalition aren’t without competition, however.

So far, FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann has put forward an alternative draft law that would see a vaccine mandate introduced solely for the over-50s age group, while Bundestag vice president Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) is gathering support for legislation against compulsory jabs.

READ ALSO: Scholz pushes mandatory jabs as resistance grows in Germany

Vaccine mandate for health workers falters

According to reports in Tagesspiegel, a plan to introduce mandatory Covid jabs for health workers is facing major opposition from state leaders.

Though the law has already been passed by the federal parliament, states are allegedly pushing for the introduction of the law to be postponed until a so-called ‘dead’ or ‘inactivated’ vaccine – where the virus is killed off – from Novavax is available on the market.

Politicians in favour of postponing the legislation believe that the new vaccine could find more public acceptance than the current mRNA and viral vector vaccines. 

A recent survey of vaccine hesitant people found that around half of those who hadn’t got vaccinated against Covid would do so if they could get an inactivated or dead vaccine. 

This type of vaccine involves growing a virus and then killing it off to prevent any disease-creating capacity. 

State leaders are also reportedly concerned that nurses who are against vaccination could fail to turn up to work once the new law is introduced, exacerbating existing staff shortages. 

READ ALSO: ‘I was against vaccine mandates in Germany – until hospitals became overwhelmed’

“We don’t want there to be a loss of nursing capacities in the nursing and hospital sector,” Bavarian state premier Markus Söder (CSU) told the Augsburger Allgemeine.

In his view, it would be highly counterproductive if an exodus of nursing staff led to an overload of the healthcare system.

The federal government should therefore once again examine introducing a vaccine mandate for all, he argued. 

Member comments

  1. Are the AfD no longer classed as members of the Bundestag?
    This legislation only has likely end dates and
    I dont believe for one second that additional shots would be voluntary.
    Forced vaccination equals guaranteed profits and secure jobs for the politicians afterwards.

  2. From the country that brought you forced sterilisation and forced euthanasia , now a forced experimental ‘vaccine’ also ‘for the greater good’. Ignore the echoes of history at your peril. Real democracy means persuading the public and it’s messy and not as efficient as diktat but it’s what we want. We have no desire, for the greater good or otherwise, to see old German methods or indeed current Chinese methods deployed against us.

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TERRORISM

How does Germany warn people about the threat of terrorist attacks?

Following the recent terrorist attack in Moscow, France has shifted onto the highest possible alert level for terrorist threats. Why doesn't Germany use a similar system - and how does it alert people instead?

How does Germany warn people about the threat of terrorist attacks?

Since the brutal terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas Market back in December 2016, fears of Islamist terror seem to have receded into the background – through far-right terror has remained prevalent.

But the recent terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow, which has been attributed to a branch of IS, has heightened fears of a resurgence of Islamist violence.

In contrast to neighbouring countries, Germany doesn’t use a national terror alert system to ‘grade’ the threat of terror – but it does have another system for protecting its population and warning people. 

Here’s what you need to know about Germany’s approach to tracking threats of terrorism. 

How does Germany manage the threat of terror? 

According to the Interior Ministry, rather than relying on a system of color-coded alert levels, German security authorities take a more decentralised approach.

The Federal Criminal Police Office regularly conducts assessments of terrorist threats, which are then shared with the leaders of the federal states. If there’s a significant increase in the overall risk assessment or a specific threat emerges, the government puts “appropriate security measures” in place, the Interior Ministry states.

Unlike centralised systems in countries like France, where national threat levels are analysed and shared with the public, security responsibilities in Germany are largely decentralised, resting with individual states.

Why doesn’t Germany use terror alert levels?

When it comes to using national terror alerts to alert citizens, the Interior Ministry remains sceptical, arguing that the threat level can vary significantly between regions and even within cities.

According to the Ministry, having uniform alert levels nationwide might give the false impression that the danger is uniform everywhere, which would lead to higher levels of panic and uncertainty among citizens. 

READ ALSO: How prepared is Germany in the event of a military attack?

While alert levels could theoretically serve as a means to reach the population, ARD terrorism expert Michael Götschenberg points out that their effectiveness diminishes over time. People tend to become desensitised to frequent high alert levels, which causes people to ‘switch off’ and ultimately ignore potential threats.

Mourner at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin

A man stands in front of the memorial to the victims of the Islamist terrorist attack on Breitscheidplatz in December 2026. The Christmas Market attack was the last major Islamist attack in Germany. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

One of the main factors that renders colour-coded alerts less useful is the fact that “the levels are not linked to specific rules of behaviour for the population”, Götschenberg told Tagesschau.

Austria, for example, raised its alert level last November but emphasised that the public didn’t need to alter their behaviour in any way. This reflects authorities’ belief that the best way to fight terrorism is for the population to show resilience and refuse to give into fear.

How high is the threat of terror attacks in Germany?

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Moscow, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has described the current threat of Islamist terror as “acute”.

However, the attack has not significantly changed the authorities’ perceptions of the situation. In fact, the threat was defined as acute before the latest attacks and remains so afterwards.

Several other countries, including the UK and the US, have already put out warnings for potential terrorist attacks to citizens who are considering travelling to Germany. In the UK, for example, the government cites recent attacks such as the shootings in Hanau shisha bars back in 2020 and the knife attack in Dresden the same year.

“Terrorists are very likely to try and carry out attacks in Germany,” states the official government advice, which adds that restaurants, markets, shopping centres and places of worship could be chosen for potential attacks. 

So, how will the public be warned if a plans for a specific attack become known? As well as offering general information about terrorist threat levels, the government will also release specifics that it feels are necessary for the public safety.

For example, when the authorities suspected an attack was being planned in the area around Cologne cathedral ahead of Christmas last year, warnings were sent out to residents of the city. 

On Tuesday, Faeser also revealed that she would put additional border controls in place during the European Football Championships in June and July this year. 

READ ALSO: Germany announces border controls for European Football Championship

The focus will be on protecting the country from Islamists, political extremists and other violent criminals during the competition.

“We are keeping an eye on the current threats,” Faeser told the regional Rheinische Post. 

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