In the next few days, together with other traffic light deputies, you will submit an application for general vaccination from the age of 18. Why do you think this is necessary?
We don’t want last autumn to repeat itself. It may well be that the incidences will be low in the summer. But if the vaccination rate in the population is too low, there is a great danger that we will have very high incidences in autumn and then have to massively restrict public life again to protect the health system.
If we finally want to move out of the interplay of relaxation and lockdown, we need a higher vaccination rate. As of now, three vaccinations are required to avoid overloading the intensive care units. It is foreseeable that we will not achieve this with voluntary vaccinations.
Critics object that good vaccination education is more effective than compulsory vaccination. Isn’t there something to it?
In recent months, everyone in this country has been confronted with the issue of vaccination. However, we see that we are reaching our limits with the voluntary nature. Of course, you can also inform more broadly. When I get on the subway, more information is given about STDs than about the vaccination campaign. There could be even more. But I don’t think it will work without compulsory vaccination.
The obligation to vaccinate comes too late for the Omikron wave. Is it still necessary after that?
Of course, one can hope that everything will be resolved with pleasure. However, we have fallen flat on our faces several times during the pandemic with on-sight driving. We will not break the current omicron wave, which will probably peak in February, by making vaccination compulsory, which can only apply from May. The aim is to prevent further waves.
Does that mean that compulsory vaccination is primarily for prevention?
It is possible for people to get omicron more than once. It is also possible that after the current wave, due to a very widespread specific immunity against omicron, other virus variants such as Delta will gain more space again. There can also be other mutations.
It has been proven that vaccinations have a protective effect, even if they do not have the same effect against all virus variants. Current data from Austria show that vaccination protects against a severe course and a stay in the intensive care unit. And that is our goal: we want to ensure that the clinics are not overloaded and that a patient with a stroke or heart attack can be well cared for.
Some advocate compulsory vaccination in the age group from 50 years because the risk of ending up in the intensive care unit after an infection is significantly higher here. Would that also be a way?
Such a compulsory vaccination would also be helpful, but I think it falls short. There are also severe courses in younger people. At the beginning of last autumn, we were able to observe that the intensive care unit continued to be heavily burdened despite declining incidences. This was due to the fact that more and more younger people were admitted who stayed longer.
Regardless of age, those who are not vaccinated are also at higher risk for others. We do not yet know sufficiently what long-term consequences an illness will have. Long Covid has not yet been fully researched. I also see the following danger: If we only introduce compulsory vaccination from the age of 50, the younger generation could get the impression that they no longer need the vaccination. The vaccination recommendation would be weakened as a result.
What sanctions do you intend to use to enforce compulsory vaccination?
The decisive lever will be that proof of vaccination becomes a prerequisite for participation in public life – at work, in the subway or in restaurants. I think that will have the greatest impact. Fines are needed for those who still do not want to be vaccinated.
What are the fines if you don’t get vaccinated?
Our reasoning is as follows: If someone is found without vaccination protection, they will be notified of a fine, which will not be due for about six weeks. Anyone who can prove a vaccination within this period does not have to pay a fine. The decision should be linked to specific information on where you can arrange a vaccination appointment. Separately, there should also be advisory services. And if you still block it, you have to pay a fine.
How much will the fine be?
We have not yet decided on a specific amount. But as I said: The important thing is not the fine, but the vaccination. It is therefore also crucial that there are sufficient, easily accessible vaccination offers.
Who should check compliance with the vaccination requirement? Setting up a central vaccination register like the one in Austria is considered very time-consuming.
We’re still discussing that. On the one hand, employers will check the vaccination protection of their employees. Otherwise there will also be controls in public spaces, for example in buses or subways. However, I do not believe that random checks, as the Minister of Justice brings them into the discussion, are sufficient.
Wherever there is a high risk of infection, for example at major events, the vaccination status should be checked more intensively. And if we find that the vaccination rate is increasing, we might be able to do with fewer controls.
What reactions have you received from other MEPs to your initiative so far?
We get a lot of approval. My impression is that a large number of colleagues have been waiting for the general obligation to vaccinate to be specifically addressed. I am confident that we will get a majority for our proposal in the Bundestag.
Do you also expect approval from the Union faction?
In any case, the Union faction cannot remain in its wait-and-see attitude in the long run. There are clear alternatives: a general obligation to vaccinate from the age of 18, an obligation to vaccinate only from the age of 50 – or you are strictly against an obligation to vaccinate like the FDP MP Wolfgang Kubicki.
Isn’t it half-hearted that the federal government does not submit its own application for compulsory vaccination?
The situation is as it is. This is primarily due to the internal situation of the FDP. One could have wished for something else. But that doesn’t mean we can sit back and do nothing. I am very happy that very clever and prudent MPs have emerged from the ranks of the three coalition parties who support compulsory vaccination. The federal government has promised to support us in the concrete formulation of the draft law. So this is bound to be a good thing.
Till Steffen, who has a doctorate in law, has represented the Hamburg Greens in the Bundestag since autumn 2021. Before that, he was Senator for Justice in Hamburg from 2008 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2020.
