Germany's ruling parties are pushing the brakes on plans for compulsory coronavirus vaccines, saying it may take months for lawmakers to properly debate the contentious measure in parliament.
Dirk Wiese, a former parliamentary caucus leader for the Social Democrats, said on Sunday that the Bundestag should aim to complete its deliberations on the vaccine mandate in the first quarter of 2022.
The Green Party caucus leader Britta Hasselmann told the Funke media group that the first debate could take place in late January.
This could mean that the lower house won't pass a bill before the end of March, due to the few parliamentary sessions in February. The Bundesrat, Germany's upper chamber, would take up the matter in April, so the earliest it could come into force would be a month later.
In November, Chancellor Olaf Scholz predicted a vaccine mandate that will take effect next year, in February or early March, and that everyone can get ready for now. Some of the Free Democrats who are part of the ruling coalition, as well as Germany's former health minister who pledged last summer not to introduce a vaccine mandate, are among those who oppose it. Political leaders have agreed to let lawmakers vote according to their own conscience rather than along party lines on the issue.
The looming mandate has also been a rally point for vocal anti-vaccine campaigners who have taken part in protests against Germany's pandemic restrictions. Several recent demonstrations have turned violent, with protesters attacking police officers after being ordered to disperse.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he did not want to speculate about when the vaccine mandate would take effect, but he acknowledged that it would be too late to stop the latest highly contagious variant of the virus from taking hold.
Lauterbach told the public broadcaster ARD that they wouldn't be able to stop the omicron wave they're going through right now because of compulsory vaccinations.
He said that we will be able to do with compulsory vaccination and avoid facing the same problem in the fall with a variant that might be more dangerous.
Nearly 72% of Germans are fully vaccinated, while 42.3 have received an additional booster shot.
Germany's disease control agency reported 36,552 new confirmed cases of COVID 19 in the past 24 hours, and 77 deaths.