By EMILY SCHULTHEIS
BERLIN (AP) â German politicians were deeply divided Sunday over a warning by Chancellor Angela Merkelâs chief of staff that restrictions for unvaccinated people may be necessary if COVID-19 infection numbers reach new heights in the coming months.
Chief of staff Helge Braun told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag that he doesnât expect another coronavirus-related lockdown in Germany. But Braun said that unvaccinated people may be barred from entering venues like restaurants, movie theaters or sports stadiums âbecause the residual risk is too high.â
Braun said getting vaccinated is important to protect against severe disease and because âvaccinated people will definitely have more freedoms than unvaccinated people.â He said such policies would be legal because âthe state has the responsibility to protect the health of its citizens.â
His comments fueled a debate in German politics about potential vaccination requirements. The issue has proven divisive, even within Merkelâs own Christian Democrats party. Its candidate to replace Merkel as Germanyâs leader, Armin Laschet, said he opposes any formal or informal vaccine requirements for the time being.
âI donât believe in compulsory vaccinations and I donât believe we should put indirect pressure on people to get vaccinated,â he told the German broadcaster ZDF on Sunday. âIn a free country there are rights to freedom, not just for specific groups.â
If Germanyâs vaccination rates remain too low this fall, other options could be considered, Laschet said, adding âbut not now.â
With the highly transmissible delta variant spreading in Germany, politicians have debated the possibility of compulsory vaccinations for specific professions, including medical workers. No such requirements have been implemented yet.
Germanyâs vaccine efforts have slowed in recent weeks and that has led to discussions about how to encourage those who havenât yet received a vaccine to do so. More than 60% of the German population has received at least one dose while over 49% are fully vaccinated.
During a recent visit to the Robert Koch Institute, the government run disease control agency, Merkel ruled out new vaccine requirements âat the moment,â but added, âIâm not ruling out that this might be talked about differently in a few months either.â
Other elected officials have struck a similar tone. Baden-WĂŒrttemberg governor Winfried Kretschmann, a member of the Greens, noted Sunday that the delta variant and others that may emerge could make vaccine requirements more attractive down the line.
While there are no current plans to require people to get vaccinated, he told the German news agency dpa that âI canât rule out compulsory vaccinations for all time.â
Karl Lauterbach, a health expert from the center-left Social Democrats, spoke in favor of possible restrictions. He told the SĂŒddeutsche Zeitung that soon one of the only remaining options to fight new variants will be âto restrict access to spaces where many people come togetherâ to those who have either been vaccinated or recovered from the virus.
Others immediately pushed back against Braunâs comments on Sunday. Some expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of such restrictions, while others warned against having rights based on oneâs vaccination status.
âOf course, we need incentives to reach the highest possible vaccination rate,â Marco Buschmann, parliamentary group leader for the pro-business Free Democrats, told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland newspaper group.
Still, he said, if unvaccinated people who have been tested or recovered from the virus pose no greater danger than vaccinated people, to impose such restrictions on the unvaccinated âwould be a violation of their basic rights.â
Rolf MĂŒtzenich, head of the Social Democratsâ parliamentary group, said politicians should be focusing more on getting willing citizens vaccinated than penalizing the unvaccinated.
âWeâre not going to sustainably change the vaccination behavior of individuals with threats,â he told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.
