On Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her deputy, Olaf Scholz, will meet with German regional leaders to finalize additional steps to combat the rising number of Covid cases, with mandatory vaccinations being one of the options on the table.
Infections in Germany have shattered records in recent weeks, prompting hospitals to issue an alert, with many already above capacity and referring patients to other regions of the nation for treatment.
Despite the fact that the seven-day incidence rate has decreased marginally this week, it was still 442.9 new infections per 100,000 individuals on Wednesday, with 67,186 new cases reported in the previous 24 hours.
Just two weeks ago, Merkel, Scholz, and the presidents of Germany’s 16 states tightened Covid restrictions, but they met again on Tuesday to discuss stricter measures and are now expected to fine-tune the plans.
Scholz said after Tuesday’s meeting that he supports mandatory vaccination for all Germans and that parliament should vote on the issue before the end of the year.
“Too many people have not got vaccinated,” he told Bild television. Making jabs compulsory is justified “to protect us all”, he said.
Many scientists attribute Germany’s rapidly spreading fourth wave to the country’s low vaccination rate of roughly 68 percent, compared to 79 percent in Spain and 86 percent in Portugal.
