1940s Calling: German Politicians Propose National Vaccine Registry

Members of the German armed forces carry torches as they march at the Defence Ministry dur
ODD ANDERSEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Leading political figures in Germany have signalled that they would support the country creating a vaccine registry to collect a list of those vaccinated as the new left-wing government has backed imposing a nationwide vaccine mandate.

Germany may once again follow the lead of Austria, which announced last month that it would be mandating vaccines against the Chinese coronavirus vaccine and crafting a database to track those who have complied with the government order. While the decision to implement such a mandate has yet to be agreed upon in Germany, incoming chancellor Olaf Sholz of the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SPD) has already backed the measure.

On Saturday, politicians debated the idea of a national registry should the mandate come into force. The president of the German Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, told Welt am Sonntag that she supported a national database for vaccination status.

“We have to ask ourselves whether at all times we have done everything right to get this pandemic under control,” the SPD politician said.

Friedrich Merz, the recently installed head of Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), did not come out against the proposal, only raising concerns about its implementation.

“The question of the enforcement of such a law is, in my view, at least as important as the discussion about the obligation itself,” Merz said.

There has been some pushback against the idea of state-enforced vaccinations, including from the Vice President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Kubicki, an MP of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which, alongside the SPD and Greens will form the incoming ‘traffic light’ coalition government.

Invoking the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, Kubicki said that he is “appalled by the Jacobin behaviour of many in this country” who seek “revenge and retribution” against the unvaccinated. He argued that the unvaccinated are being scapegoated for the rise in coronavirus cases, which he claimed is “complete nonsense”.

At present, the German government only collects the number of those receiving vaccines from information provided by doctors and vaccination centres, without the information being tied to an individual.

There have been increasing calls throughout the world for the creation of vaccine registries, with Austria set to lead the way after the national vaccine mandate is imposed in February. The House of Representatives in the United States — including 80 Republicans — voted in favour of implementing a similar measure earlier this month.

On top of looking to introduce draconian vaccination measures, the upper house of Germany’s legislature agreed on Friday to ban fireworks for New Year’s Eve for the second year in a row in response to the Omicron variant of the Wuhan virus.

On Saturday, it was announced that in neighbouring France, Paris is also imposing a ban on fireworks for the end of year celebrations.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.