Poll: One in two Germans would get vaccinated against the coronavirus

Berlin (dpa) – One in two Germans would be vaccinated against the coronavirus if there was a vaccine available, according to a survey published on Monday.

A further one in four would perhaps do this, according to the online survey carried out by pollsters YouGov on behalf of dpa. One in five of the 2,056 respondents said they would not be vaccinated. Men said they were more likely to be vaccinated than women.

No vaccine against the coronavirus is currently available. According to most experts, the first approved vaccines should not be ready for mass use until next year at the earliest.

Large clinical trials could involve vaccination of certain population groups in the first phase, but it is also possible that it will take years before a vaccine is available that offers good protection against the coronavirus and Covid-19, the potentially fatal respiratory disease it causes.

Germans are divided about the need for a vaccination against the coronavirus: While 44 per cent of those questioned advocated it, 40 per cent opposed it.

Speculation about a possible vaccination has been circulating in Germany. The federal government has repeatedly stressed that it will not make any future coronavirus vaccination compulsory.

The German Infection Protection Act sets strict legal limits for mandatory vaccination: it cannot be imposed by the federal government but can only be decided jointly by the federal and state governments “for threatened sections of the population.”

Mandatory vaccination can only be justified in special cases, because it could violate Article 2 of Germany’s Basic Law: “Everyone has the right to life and physical integrity,” the de facto constitution says.

Vaccination has been compulsory in Germany since March to protect against the highly contagious measles, among other things for children and staff in day-care centres and schools.