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Corona up-to-date: compulsory corona vaccination from the age of 60 – politics

There is movement in the struggle to find a compromise for general corona vaccination in Germany. The two groups of deputies in the Bundestag, who have each introduced their own draft legislation for compulsory vaccination, agreed on Tuesday on a joint proposal for compulsory vaccination from the age of 60. This increases the chances of the vote, which is planned for this Thursday without the usual group guidelines. First, the editorial network Germany reported on the compromise.

As it says in a statement, “a vaccination certificate is to be mandatory for all people over the age of 60, i.e. the particularly vulnerable population group”. It should be fulfilled by October. This obligation should be able to be suspended with a Bundestag resolution in June if the vaccination rate increases sufficiently. In the autumn, against the background of the then prevailing knowledge and potential virus variants, the Bundestag is to decide “whether the activation of the obligation to provide proof of vaccination for age groups from 18 years of age should also take effect”.

Specifically, it is the group around SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese and the Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen, who initially aimed for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18. On Monday she already presented a compromise proposal for a duty from the age of 50 with the option of extending it to all adults. The second group, led by the FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann, had proposed compulsory advice and then a possible compulsory vaccination from the age of 50. The initiative, which originally proposed mandatory vaccinations from 18, has so far been supported by 237 MPs. The group for compulsory vaccination from 50 initially supported around 45 parliamentarians.

Criticism of the isolation requirement for infected people

As of May 1st, the obligation to isolate and quarantine people with corona and contact persons is to be lifted – this decision by the German health ministers has met with opposition from experts and patient advocates. The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, sees great dangers for people who are particularly at risk. “It’s becoming more and more dangerous for the high-risk group. These people live among us,” Brysch told the editorial network Germany. “Like the corona deniers, the infection is played down,” criticized the patient advocate.

The epidemiologist Hajo Zeeb called for the obligation to isolate infected people to be retained. “If a person has symptoms, they should sit out the corona infection at home instead of infecting more people,” Zeeb told RND. Especially with the omicron variant there is a risk of the virus being passed on very quickly. A five-day isolation requirement should therefore be maintained. Quarantine for contact persons, on the other hand, is no longer necessary.

The health ministers of the federal and state governments had agreed on Monday that from May 1st, people infected with corona and contact persons would usually only have to be in isolation or quarantine voluntarily and for a short period of time. In the future, infected people will only be “strongly recommended” to isolate themselves for five days and avoid contacts – it should apply accordingly to contact persons of infected people. There is no order from the health department. Stricter requirements should remain for employees in healthcare and care who have become infected. For them, the isolation should continue to be ordered by the office and only end five days after a negative rapid or PCR test.

With the easing of the quarantine rules, mass staff shortages should also be avoided when the number of infections is high. They are based on a suggestion by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). So far, the secretions have usually lasted ten days and can be ended with a negative test after seven days. A formal order from the health department is often no longer issued.

The plan found a mixed echo in the Union faction in the Bundestag. Her health policy spokesman Tino Sorge (CDU) welcomed him. “As a Union, we said a few days ago that we have to take a close look that we don’t produce overload situations in many areas by keeping people at home through rigid quarantine regulations,” he said on ZDF’s “Morgenmagazin”. There are many mild and symptom-free courses. “Anyone who feels sick should stay at home. But not that we are constantly testing without cause.” On the other hand, criticism came from the health politician Stephan Pilsinger (CSU), who called the plans “quite absurd”. It doesn’t make sense for infected people to keep walking around and infecting other people, he told Bayerischer Rundfunk. (05.04.2022)

Seven-day incidence drops to 1394

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 180,397 new infections within 24 hours. That is 56,955 fewer cases than on Tuesday a week ago, when 237,352 positive tests were reported. Overall, the number of confirmed infections in Germany is more than 21.84 million. The nationwide seven-day incidence continues to fall to 1,394 from 1,425 the previous day. 316 other people died in connection with the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 130,368.

The numbers are of limited value. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. That is why we use the SZ Corona Dashboard to show an average value from the reports of the past seven days, which is intended to compensate for fluctuations from day to day. You can find more information about this in the Transparency Blog, more data and graphics on the pandemic here. (05.04.2022)

Shanghai extends lockdown indefinitely

The Chinese port metropolis of Shanghai has extended the corona lockdown for its 26 million inhabitants indefinitely. Referring to the rapid increase in infections, Vice Party leader Gu Honghui spoke of a “race against time” on Tuesday. The mass tests on Monday, their verification and the transport of the infected to quarantine must first be completed before a decision is made on the further direction of the control measures. “The situation is very acute.”

In the worst corona wave in China for two years, the health commission in Beijing reported a record of more than 16,000 new infections. With more than 15,000, most cases are asymptomatic. In Shanghai alone, 268 diseases and more than 13,000 infections without symptoms were reported after the tests of the past few days – for the first time more than 10,000 in one day. The northeast Chinese province of Jilin is also badly affected, where there are also curfews and millions of people are being tested. China is pursuing a strict zero-Covid strategy, which is being severely tested with Omicron and especially with the fast-spreading BA.2 variant. In China, anyone who is infected comes to a hospital or a quarantine facility that has been provisionally set up in Shanghai, including in gyms and exhibition halls and hotels. Actually, the curfews in western Shanghai should only run from Friday to Tuesday, but as before in the east and south, where the lockdown should be from Monday to Friday, people still have to stay at home. (05.04.2022)

The compromise on compulsory vaccination does not find a majority either

A corona vaccination requirement for all adults over the age of 18 is initially off the table and a majority for a higher age limit is still open. On Monday, the group of members of the Bundestag, who had previously advocated an obligation for all adults, submitted a compromise proposal. She now wants compulsory vaccination from the age of 50, compulsory advice for younger adults and only in the second step – if necessary – compulsory vaccination for them as well. She hopes to get a majority for compulsory vaccination. But it didn’t look like it on Monday.

With the postponement of the age limit to 50 years for compulsory vaccination, the group around Heike Baehrens (SPD), Janosch Dahmen (Greens) and Katrin Helling-Plahr (FDP) is approaching the group around the FDP MP Andrew Ullmann, who also promotes an obligation to provide vaccination advice. However, according to her proposal, the obligation to vaccinate from the age of 50 would apply in any case from October. At Ullmann, she would only come if the advice did not lead to a sufficient increase in the vaccination rate.

Representatives of the group around Ullmann therefore insisted on their proposal on Monday: An immediate vaccination obligation “without considering the many unknown variables in autumn, from then conceivable virus variants to the immunity rate in the population” cannot be sufficiently justified on the basis of the current data situation. They could “not agree to the compromise offer in its current form”.

The compromise proposal also received a basket from the Union. The group wanted to approach them by now agreeing to a vaccination register, which is at the core of the application by the CDU and CSU for a preventive vaccination law. The vaccination, convalescence or counseling evidence should be collected and stored by the health insurance companies. The health policy spokesman for the Union faction, Tino Sorge (CDU), is not convinced: the paper is not a compromise between the concepts, but an “unclean fusion” of compulsory vaccination from 18 and from 50, he said Rheinische Post. The deputy parliamentary group leader Sepp Müller (CDU) said mirrorhe will propose to the committees of his group “that we stick to our own proposal”.

The Green MP Till Steffen promoted the compromise proposal and said that an attempt had been made to bring together the essential components of the three drafts, which in principle advocate compulsory vaccination. In any case, the group wants to put this version and no longer the vaccination requirement from 18 on Thursday in the Bundestag for a vote, explained the SPD politician Dagmar Schmidt. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also campaigned for the compromise: Anyone who wants compulsory vaccination can find themselves there, he said. “But if you vote against it, you risk lockdowns and suffering again in the fall.” On Thursday, the Bundestag will vote on a possible general corona vaccination requirement. (04/04/2022)

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