Three proposals, four hours of speeches – the corona vaccination requirement made it into the plenary session of the Bundestag. He didn’t make it easy for himself. But it also weighed heavily how it ended. And then all those who, like the 16 prime ministers, had asked the MPs in Berlin for compulsory vaccination failed. This can actually only be praised by those who convince themselves and the citizens that the whole thing is a true decision of conscience.
The chancellor, for example, spoke in this direction. Does he believe that this is still interpreted as a leadership strength? Conversely, it’s also a mess. Because one reason for the (supposedly noble) approval of the vote in parliament was that the SPD, Greens and FDP could not agree on a common line, absolutely not. And that Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach is not, in his own way, the one who brings opponents together. Not in the traffic light, not overall. The way out was that the individual member of parliament did not follow any kind of compulsion from the parliamentary group, but rather his own voice.
If only it were. Tactics, as well as repeated behind-the-scenes attempts to assert positions with pressure or to demonstrate one’s own strength – some in the parliamentary group leaderships, such as in the Union, should have pangs of conscience afterwards. And in advance for all the difficult developments that may still arise during the pandemic.
The struggle in the matter across all party lines – except for the radicals of the AfD – is a really praiseworthy, even liberating approach. That’s how politics should work: as an attempt to promote your own argument and win a majority. More of that! This substantive competition is nobler than the precaution of always orienting oneself to one’s own group.
Not even for older people
But now it is like this: There is no obligation for all adults. And not even one for the elderly, for the over-sixties, the vulnerable. Two groups from the traffic light coalition had now agreed on a joint application for them.
That would have meant that from October 15, people aged 60 and over would have had to show they were vaccinated or recovered. But: Depending on the situation of the pandemic, after knowledge of virus variants and vaccination rate, the Bundestag could either suspend this obligation beforehand or even extend it (with a decision in September at the earliest) to people over 18. The draft law of this group also provides for a vaccination advice obligation and the establishment of a vaccination register.
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The Green Janosch Dahmen, a doctor, for example, campaigned for it and rightly pointed out that the CDU and CSU were also taken into account with these points. The vaccination register, for example, is to be set up so that it can be traced who has been vaccinated at all and who needs to be specifically addressed.
A simple majority was sufficient for voting. Not at least 369 of all 736 MPs, but more yes than no from the parliamentarians present. It wasn’t enough. Not that the chancellor ordered Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock back from the important NATO meeting on Ukraine to vote. So much for leadership.
The result is: a mess. The decision against compulsory vaccination in the Bundestag weighs heavily. And it may end up weighing on some people’s consciences.
