German Health Minister: 'Vaccinated, recovered or dead' by the end of winter

New calls for an increase in vaccinations were made on Monday by the German Minister of Health, Jens Span.  The Minister warned about a very difficult winter to come due to a pandemic, while discussions to extend the deadline for persons to get vaccinated are intensifying around the country.

The Germans "will be vaccinated, recovered or dead by the end of this winter", according to Span while calling on those to get their first shot and booster shot.

He said the country has enough vaccines, noting that it has secured 16 million doses of the Moderna vaccine that could be used for booster doses. He stressed that the effect of the third dose will be seen in just two weeks, while he added that the required doses of the Pfizer vaccine intended for young children will be widely available within the EU around December 20th.

The debate on compulsory vaccination is escalating

At the same time, the debate over the possibility of imposing compulsory vaccination is escalating in the country. Medical associations, scientific institutes and politicians are in favor of a general compulsory vaccination as the only way out of the crisis.

The Association of Pediatricians and Adolescents (BVKJ) today formally called for the introduction of general compulsory vaccination, noting that "it is unacceptable, due to insufficient vaccination of a minority, to restrict the fundamental rights of all citizens, but especially of children and adolescents.  The Union recognizes that compulsory vaccination formally restricts the right to physical integrity, but stresses that this is acceptable because otherwise the rights of others would be affected or restricted. The rights of children should not be weighed against the rights of a minority of citizens but should be guaranteed unconditionally and imperatively by the state. Our children deserved to return to normalcy after the enormous restrictions imposed by the pandemic," the BVKJ said in a statement.

As the pediatricians point out, with 15 million unvaccinated at the moment, we could have 15 million new cases and therefore a number of deaths that could exceed 100,000. "This number alone reminds us to reconsider whether the state should expose people to this danger, despite the almost unanimous advice of medical science to the contrary. In addition, refusal to vaccinate implies an additional number of cases among those who have already been vaccinated. "Unvaccinated people, therefore, restrict the right of others to physical integrity," the BVKJ ruling said.

The head of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wheeler, referred the same issue to the World Health Organization, which recommended, "if you have tried everything else, you should also consider compulsory vaccination." Speaking last night on the first channel of the German public television ARD, Mr. Wheeler stressed that "we need to make sure that as many people as possible are vaccinated and that those who have already been vaccinated will come for their booster vaccination", but stressed, "as a last resort, I am with the WHO". There is no one who would like to impose the vaccine, he continued, but now we know well what we have to do and we must use this knowledge. "Many have realized that we are facing a medical emergency and much more should have already been done.

In the same vein, Social Democrat (SPD) spokesman Karl Lauterbach told BILD television today that "without mandatory vaccinations, the vaccination rate will not increase as much as is needed to bring the pandemic under control." that the number of those in favor of compulsory vaccination is increasing day by day. However, he, who is also a professor of epidemiology, expressed the belief that the booster dose of the vaccine will protect for a longer period of time than the previous two.

In the same debate, the vice-president of the Liberal Parliamentary Group (FDP) Michael Toirer, who is considered a candidate for the Ministry of Health in the next government, did not want to rule out the possibility of mandatory vaccination but said that his party believed it was unconstitutional.

with information from Reuters, AFP, ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ