German Supreme Court Rules Compulsory Vax For Health Workers Constitutional

Three months after denying an injunction over a mandate requiring healthcare workers to present proof of full vaccination, Germany’s Supreme Court ruled that the mandate is constitutional.

On Thursday, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court rejected complaints about compulsory vaccination for health workers, arguing that the need to ‘protect’ vulnerable populations in hospitals outweighs ‘my body, my choice’ arguments.

“In Germany, too, an average of 130 to 150 people are dying every day due to the pandemic,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told reporters in Berlin. “So the impression that the pandemic has been defeated is wrong.”

Lauterbach made the comments during a two-day summit with his G7 counterparts, where he said that “the state is obliged to protect vulnerable groups.”

Fully vaccinated US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra was due to attend the meeting in person, but came down with Covid-19 in Berlin on Wednesday, one day after meeting Lauterbach and other other prominent German figures, according to the Washington Post.

Nearly 76% of Germans have received two shots of Covid-19 vaccine so far, while nearly 60% have also received a booster shot.