After the resurgence of the epidemic with the 5th wave caused by the Delta variant of the Corona virus around the world, and now the spread of the Omicron variant of South African origin, the idea of ”mandatory vaccine” against Covid-19 has been brought into discussion again. After Austria took the first step in the European Union, Germany is preparing to “make the Covid 19 vaccine compulsory”. France, which entered the election environment, chose the method of strengthening the measures “for now”. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, also gave the green light to mandatory vaccination, saying, “It’s time for discussion.”
Austria was the first country to implement the idea of compulsory vaccination, which has been defined as the “red line”, in the face of the accumulation of unvaccinated patients in hospitals in Europe and the re-acceleration of the pandemic. The Austrian government has decided to make the Covid-19 vaccine compulsory from 1 February.
In Germany, which was against this idea for a long time, the discussions about making the vaccine compulsory after the elections grew. Olaf Scholz, the future Chancellor of Germany, declared that he “is in favor of making the vaccine compulsory”, as those hospitalized are mostly unvaccinated. Scholz said that this proposal should be passed by the parliament before the end of the year and will be implemented from 1 February or 1 March. Olaf Scholz, stating that many people are still not vaccinated, invites the German people to be vaccinated as intensely as possible before this date.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who answered the journalists’ question on the subject, said, “I am in favor of the EU’s discussion of mandatory vaccination. However, this decision belongs to the member states. For now, only one member state of the union has taken this decision.”
Sales of children’s vaccines on 13 December
Von der Leyen also spoke about “vaccinating children between the ages of 5-11”, which is on the agenda to prevent the spread of the virus through children, “I spoke with Pfizer-BioNTech and I have good news. The company said that it will accelerate the production of Covid vaccines for children.” Von der Leyen has announced that production of the pediatric version of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will increase and doses will be available in the EU on 13 December.
However, the European High Authority for Health wanted the vaccine to be administered initially only to children at risk of contracting a serious illness. Many countries outside the EU, such as the USA, Canada and Israel, have approved the vaccination of children.
Measures get tougher
Countries such as France, Belgium and Luxembourg, which could not reach a consensus on making the vaccine compulsory, chose the method of increasing the existing measures. French President Emmanuel Macron, who convened the security council and then the council of ministers at the Elysee Palace, decided to increase the measures by strengthening the health protocol instead of taking the “mandatory vaccination” decision before the election.
Accordingly, in France, where the number of cases exceeds 50 thousand a day, masks become mandatory in open-air venues such as Christmas markets and open market places. France has announced that it will make a “negative test” mandatory, as well as a vaccination certificate, for all passengers coming from outside the EU. The government also extended the flight ban to South Africa and 9 countries in the region until Saturday due to the Omicron variant.
In France, opinions that the vaccine should become compulsory began to rise from many parties, from the far right to the Socialist Party. François Bayrou, leader of the centre-right party MODEM, which supports the government, said: “The issue of making the vaccine compulsory now deserves discussion. Every child born in France is given 11 compulsory vaccinations. Vaccination prevents the disease from reaching serious levels.”
French Minister of Health, Olivier Veran, announced that 13 Covid-19 cases in France “we suspect that they are Omicron variants”. Veran stated that mandatory vaccination is not yet on their agenda.
Another EU member state that tightened the measures was Luxembourg. The government has made vaccination certificate mandatory for all companies. From January, no restaurant, bar or workplace will be allowed to go without vaccinations.
Even though a significant portion of the population in Europe receives two doses of the vaccine, there are still millions of EU citizens who resist getting vaccinated. 83.7 percent of the population in Malta, 80.4 percent in Spain, 74.7 percent in Belgium, 76.6 percent in Denmark, 76.1 percent in Ireland 73 percent in Italy, 70 percent in Norway, 69.6 percent in France, 69.9 percent in England, 69.1% in Sweden, and Germany 67.9 received their second dose of vaccine.