Resident doctors continue to support compulsory vaccination
20.01.2022 19:13
Resident doctors in Germany are and remain in favor of the introduction of general vaccination requirements. This was recently confirmed by the federal executive board of the Virchowbund with a unanimous vote at its meeting last Friday. The professional association of pediatricians and adolescent doctors also has a broad vote of over 90 percent of its delegate assembly.
“Contrary to statements made by the KBV chairmen, such a vaccination requirement is not necessarily carried out in practices. The representatives of the corporation are wrong here and I strongly doubt that they speak for the majority of statutory health insurance physicians and have their support on this issue," explains the federal chairman of the Association of Resident Doctors (Virchowbund).
After the introduction of a general vaccination requirement, practicing doctors would continue to vaccinate as before. “No one will be forcibly vaccinated in practices or vaccination centers if there is a general vaccination requirement. That’s a given,” says Dr. Thomas Fischbach, President of the Professional Association of Pediatricians and Adolescents. “This is the case with the compulsory vaccination against measles that has been in place for two years and also with the recently introduced occupational vaccination requirement for health facilities. The argument alone that a vaccination cannot completely prevent infections was not valid when it came to the facility-specific vaccination requirement.”
“Enforcing compulsory vaccination is a sovereign task and not a matter for doctors in practice. It will be sanctioned through controls by law enforcement officers and through fines. Constructed constellations like that of the KBV chairmen are neither correct nor expedient and they conceal a lack of mandate for such a far-reaching positioning by the KBV committees. If you don't want something, you construct reasons - if you think something is right, you find ways," emphasizes Dr. Heinrich.