Unlike measles: why there will be no mandatory corona vaccination

A year ago, the Bundestag approved a measles vaccine. However, the federal government clearly rules this out for the corona pandemic. Because in reality?

Health Minister Jens Spahn clearly responded to the question whether corona vaccination should be mandatory: “I give you my word,” he said in the Bundestag on 18 November. “There will be no mandatory vaccination in this pandemic.” The CDU politician repeated this announcement several times. Chancellor Angela Merkel has also expressly stated that no one will be forced to get vaccinated.

But why shouldn’t there be compulsory vaccination? There is also a measles vaccine, it was decided by the Bundestag almost exactly a year ago. However, there are several differences between the two themes:

• Measles vaccination is only mandatory in day care centers, schools and other training facilities, as well as for employees of hospitals and medical offices.
• The measles vaccine is primarily for children. Spahn said at the time that the goal of the measles protection law was to protect “the weakest in society.”
• Vaccination against measles is believed to provide lifelong immunity.
• To completely stop the spread of measles, a vaccination rate of at least 95 percent must be achieved.

Unlike measles, children are not considered a particularly vulnerable group with Covid-19. Therefore, a corona vaccination requirement for kindergartens and schools would apply to the wrong target group. Of course, Corona also seeks the widest possible vaccination coverage of the population, but unlike measles, people who need protection above all are old enough to decide for themselves.

Individual protection is initially more important

Also, it is not yet clear how long the effects of corona vaccines developed so far will last, but probably no more than one or two years. Regarding the vaccination quota, the Robert Koch Institute assumes that with an immunity of around 70 percent of the population, the transmission of the virus is so limited “that this pandemic passes.” According to the WHO, a vaccination rate of 60 percent is sufficient. That should be possible: “We assume that the will to vaccinate in the corona pandemic is great,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health.

A recent poll on behalf of RTL and ntv supports this assumption only to a limited extent: According to this, 43 percent of citizens want to get vaccinated as soon as possible. However, only 7 percent say they generally do not want to get vaccinated against Covid-19. 50 percent of respondents want to wait and see.

So-called community protection is not currently at the center of RKI’s considerations. Anyway, there are still some unanswered questions. “In this regard, great importance is attached to individual protection, that is, the protection of the vaccinated person against Covid 19 disease or a severe course of the disease,” the institute said. In other words, unlike measles, individual protection from corona vaccination outweighs targeted herd immunity, at least initially.

Strictly speaking, there is no “measles vaccine”

When asked about a possible parallel between the unplanned corona vaccination obligation and the existing measles vaccination obligation, SPD health policy Sabine Dittmar first draws attention to a detail that is not entirely insignificant: there is “no legal obligation to vaccinate against measles”, but they have “legally regulated the obligation to provide proof of protection through vaccination.”

Strictly speaking, there really is no “measles vaccine”, even if the Federal Ministry of Health itself talks about it. Coercion is indirect: “Whoever does not provide evidence will not be able to be treated at the facilities in question or be active in them,” says the ministry.

“With the measles protection law, you can definitely stay unvaccinated,” said SPD member of the Bundestag Dittmar, who is a trained doctor. “But then the consequences, for example, fines, not admission to nursery, measures under labor law, must be assumed.” It also refers to the 95 percent vaccination quota needed to combat measles. This is different with Corona: “In the face of Covid-19, sufficient protection of the population will be achieved through the offer of vaccination,” said Dittmar. “Experts currently assume that a vaccination rate of 60 percent is sufficient for this. In view of the high willingness to vaccinate in our population, I am confident that we will achieve this as soon as enough vaccine is available.”

“There will be no immunity card”

This is how the CDU politician Erwin Rüddel, chairman of the Bundestag’s health committee, sees it. “There will be no compulsory vaccinations in Germany, you can trust that,” he told ntv. It also assumes that a vaccination rate of 60 percent will be achieved without mandatory vaccination. Rüddel also excludes mandatory back door vaccination. An immunity card “will not exist,” he says, especially since it is not yet clear whether vaccinated people can be a source of infection for others.

This is also highlighted by his party colleague Karin Maag, health policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group. “Basically, the coronavirus vaccination will prevent its own disease. However, there has not yet been enough research on whether it can also reduce or prevent the transmission of the virus to other people.” Proof of a vaccination as a prerequisite for going to a restaurant or a movie makes no sense “at least for the moment.” This also applies to an order by employers for employees to get vaccinated.

However, these issues have not yet been definitively clarified. “It is voluntary, and we will pay a lot of attention to it,” Rüddel said. However, he adds: “In everyday life situations will arise that politicians have not yet thought about. And as long as those who are not vaccinated are not harmed and those who are vaccinated have an advantage, it will be necessary to weigh whether the policy intervenes. I think the more private the decision, the less politicians will intervene. “

Maag also highlights that there will be no mandatory vaccination against the coronavirus “in the future either.” “I cannot say conclusively whether and to what extent an employer can and can foresee a vaccine in general in their employment contracts.”