Concern over Germany’s mandatory jab programme

DOUBTS are growing over Germany’s plan to make the coronavirus vaccination compulsory.

Shortly before Olaf Scholz became chancellor last year, he said he expected the jab to be made mandatory by “early February, early March”.

But two months on, that deadline is looming and a new law has yet to be put before parliament.

Mr Scholz is refusing to draw up government legislation, and is insisting a new law be proposed by a cross-party group of MPS. The opposition Christian Democrat Union (CDU) this week accused him of a “failure of leadership in the midst of a crisis”.

Opposition MPS say he is afraid the issue could open up serious divisions in his coalition government and wants to pass the buck to parliament.

Other observers say the chancellor may have sensed a shift in public opinion amid fears that making the jab compulsory could be unconstitutional or unenforceable.

When Mr Scholz declared his support for mandatory vaccination last November, Germany was in the grip of the delta variant and hospitals were overloaded, with 73 per cent of the public supporting compulsory jabs.

Now, however, the omicron variant has taken over. Hospital occupancy has dropped sharply, and public support for a mandatory jab has fallen.

There are also daily protests from anti-vaxxers across Germany, some of which have turned violent.

Recent proposals include a more limited mandate, such as making the jab compulsory for over-50s only, as Italy has done, or making it mandatory for a period of one or two years.

“The decision to vaccinate is not one you make only for your own protection, and that’s why compulsory vaccination is right,” Mr Scholz told MPS this week, as he insisted he still backs the idea.