German court rules compulsory Covid vaccine for health care workers ‘justified’

[Stone]

German court rules compulsory Covid vaccine for health care workers ‘justified’

EuroNews | 19 May 2022


A GERMAN Supreme Court has ruled today that compulsory Covid vaccine in the health care sector is ‘constitutionally justified’.

According to the court on Thursday, May 19, the decision to make the Covid vaccine compulsory for “certain healthcare and nursing institutions and companies” is because the ‘right to physical integrity is less important than the protection of vulnerable persons’.

“With a decision published today, the First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a constitutional complaint directed against Section 20a, Section 22a and Section 73 (1a) Nos. 7e to 7h of the Act on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases in Humans (Infection Protection Act – IfSG).”

“This regulates the obligation related to certain healthcare and nursing institutions and companies to provide evidence of a COVID-19 vaccination, recovery from COVID-19 disease or a medical contraindication for vaccination (so-called “facility and company-related obligation to provide evidence”),” it read.

It added: “The contested provisions do not infringe the complainants’ rights, in particular under Article 2.2 sentence 1 of the Basic Law and Article 12.1 of the Basic Law. Insofar as the regulations interfere with the fundamental rights mentioned, these interferences are constitutionally justified.

“Within the scope of the assessment to which it is entitled, the legislature has found an appropriate balance between the protection of vulnerable people from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is pursued with the obligation to provide proof, and the violations of fundamental rights.

“Despite the high intensity of the intervention, the constitutionally protected interests of the complainants working in the health and care sector must ultimately take a back seat.”

You can read the full verdict here.

On Thursday, April 7, German parliament rejected plans to make Covid vaccines mandatory for over-60s.

From 674 Bundestag MPs voting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition received only 296 votes in favour of the proposal and 378 against.

A simple majority was needed for the bill, which was also supported by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, to be passed.

Austria is the only place where Covid vaccination is a mandatory condition of living in the country, as reported by Bloomberg.