German Govt Loses Vote on Imposing Mandatory Vaccinations on Over-60s

Chris TomlinsonApril 8, 2022

The Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, has rejected a vaccine mandate for people over the age of 60, with the left-liberal coalition government’s proposal losing by over 80 votes.

The Bundestag voted against the vaccine mandate, which would have made coronavirus vaccination mandatory for all residents of Germany over the age of 60, on Thursday, despite the move being backed by the coalition government comprised of politicians from the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD), far-left Greens, and liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).

The mandate was rejected by the Bundestag by a vote of 296 MPs for the motion to 378 against, with nine MPs abstaining from the vote, newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reports.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, a fanatical supporter of compulsory vaccination, reacted to the rejection by saying it was “a very important decision because now the fight against Corona in the fall will be much harder. Political recriminations do not help. We will continue.”

‘Held Hostage by These People’ – German Health Minister Denounces Unjabbed, Demands Vax Mandatehttps://t.co/gQlSEmEa5S

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The vote is the first significant defeat for the leftist coalition government since it took power in Germany last year and both Health Minister Lauterbach and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, both of the Social Democratic Party, backed the idea of mandatory vaccinations.

In December of last year, Scholz stated that he supported mandatory vaccinations not just for those over the age of 60 but for all residents of Germany. He stated he would campaign for mandatory vaccinations.

“What we need is a legislative procedure in which every member of parliament votes according to his conscience on a general vaccination obligation,” Chancellor Scholz said.

While the leftist coalition does have a majority in the Bundestag, it has been speculated that the loss was due to the voting behaviour of some in the FDP, a pro-business liberal party that is a junior party in the coalition alongside the SPD and the Greens.

In neighbouring Austria, Herbert Kickl, leader of the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ), commented on the results of the vote saying: “Our government is also so happy to take German politics as a model for all sorts of ‘nonsense’.”

“Now it has the opportunity to imitate the Germans with something reasonable and necessary, namely the rejection of a compulsory vaccination regime that tramples on fundamental rights and freedoms and lacks any scientific evidence,” he added.

Around 600,000 Italians over the age of 50 are set to receive a fine for being unvaccinated despite the Italian government reviewing a loosening of various Wuhan virus restrictions. https://t.co/mdnGPe0fva

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