Violations of vaccination requirements for doctors and nurses were hardly punished

Only a small number of sanctions have been imposed to enforce vaccination requirements for staff in health and care facilities. The demonstrably almost 270,000 violations of the law in force from March to the end of December 2022 are offset by only around 8,250 fine proceedings or bans on activities. This was the result of a survey by this newspaper of all 16 state governments, with five partially providing incomplete information.

According to the survey, the hospitals, care facilities and medical practices reported to the health authorities exactly 268,889 employees who could not show valid proof of vaccination or recovery. Most violations (62,184) were registered in Bavaria (as of early December), followed by Saxony with 45,257 (as of late October). Estimate: According to the Federal Statistical Office, 5.8 million people work in the health sector in Germany.

Regardless of the fact that in some places evidence was still being submitted with a delay, the majority of the unvaccinated doctors and nurses were allowed to continue working. Demonstrably, only 1277 activity or entry bans were imposed. Most of the offices were in North Rhine-Westphalia (533), followed by Hamburg (400), Rhineland-Palatinate (180) and Lower Saxony (134). Brandenburg claims to have ordered two, Bremen one. Bavaria, Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt even announced that they had not issued a single ban.

In addition, 6,975 fine proceedings were opened nationwide against employees in the health sector. Here, too, North Rhine-Westphalia leads with 2,250 cases, followed by Thuringia (1982) and Rhineland-Palatinate (1948). 450 procedures were started in Baden-Württemberg and 345 in Lower Saxony. According to the law, penalties of up to 2,500 euros were possible, but according to reports, a maximum of 500 euros was required. Seven countries stated that they had not initiated a single fine procedure. In many places, the health authorities used the discretionary powers granted by the legislature and apparently often did not impose any sanctions in view of the very poor staffing of hospitals and nursing homes.

Despite the implementation deficit, the health policy spokeswoman for the SPD in the Bundestag, Heike Baehrens, defended the law in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG: "The facility-related vaccination requirement was an appropriate and important measure to protect the most vulnerable in our society." This obligation also has to Basic immunization of the population contributed, which has brought the country through the pandemic relatively well to date.

Meanwhile, Andrew Ullmann, the health policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, criticizes the poor implementation. "With all due respect for resource bottlenecks and staff shortages, the federal states should look for clues and analyze why the current law was so sparsely enforced," says Ullmann. "If only a few percent of the cases were brought to the procedure, although the violation was known, there is a great maladministration here."

This is particularly problematic with regard to social cohesion. In principle, compulsory vaccination made sense at the time it was introduced, argues Ullmann. However, the situation changed over the course of the year, and the vaccination provided significantly less protection against the virus being passed on. “In hindsight, self-critically, the facility-related compulsory vaccination should have been suspended by autumn at the latest,” Ullmann sums up.

Violent criticism also comes from the opposition. “The new figures are revealing. They show: In large parts of Germany, the institution-related vaccination requirement was actually never in force," says Tino Sorge, health policy spokesman for the Union faction. "It was hardly ever enforced, and it certainly didn't apply nationwide." The different handling of the law in the federal states is unfair, especially from the point of view of those employees who were actually prohibited from working. The obligation to vaccinate the facilities was “a pipe burst with an announcement”. At the latest with the mild omicron variant and the high level of basic immunity in the population, says Sorge, it was clear that compulsory vaccination should have ended.