Over the weekend, there was a fair amount of journalistic chatter coming mainly from the CDU Party's chief of staff for Chancellor Merkel (Helge Braun), who says things to the idea that a day will come (probably after the September election)....where the vaccinated folks will get things....and the non-vaccinated folks will not get certain things (access to theaters, soccer stadiums, museums, in-door restaurants/cafes/bars).
How this would work? That's generally left out of the discussion.
If you were asking me....I would assume that after the election....the coalition 'build' agreement (the SPD or the Greens), would include a statement that the government would issue an order that they have such authority and would use it.
Constitutional? Well....let's just say that it will be immediately challenged in court and the Constitutional Court will spend six months talking over the government 'right', and may eventually in spring of 2022 say that they'd (referring to the government) have to change the Constitution to make this a governmental power. Whether they'd do this or not....it's just a guess. The fear of them being accused of fascism or 1930's style abuse? I think it'd tie discussions up for months, and the whole 'punishment' angle for non-vaccinated folks would fall apart.
Would this influence the non-vaccination crowd into getting it? It's a 50-50 proposition. Some of the non-vaccination folks might go over to the counterfeit crowd, and get their 'fake' shot, causing an even bigger crisis, if you ask me. Some will just demonstrate in front of pubs and bars.
Could bars, pubs, soccer stadiums and theaters do without 20-percent of the current customer group? I have my doubts on this. Some bar owners would come straight to the government and hint that they expect less taxation since they lost business and profits.
Does this threat by Braun change the outcome of the election? No one is saying that. Maybe out of a thousand German voters....maybe forty of them (my estimate) are peeved enough about the statement to shake off their pro-CDU or pro-SPD vote.
As for their herd-immunity statements of the fall of 2020....where they only needed 65-percent to make themselves happy? Well....some Germans will laugh and say they remember that suggestion being made by a dozen virus-experts and politicians.
The new herd-immunity statements? Mostly suggesting 75-percent is a 'good-start', and the hint that not even 80-percent will be enough. Where are the Germans on the first shot situation (as of 24 July 2021)? 60.8 percent. On the wrap-up of the second-shot? Around 49.1-percent. All data from Wiesbadenaktuell.com.
This whole herd-immunity discussion erupting in the political campaign? Well....no. You'd think that a quarter of the population would be kinda peeved and want journalists to ask more direct questions....but that's not going to happen.
One odd aspect of this discussion...over the past two months with the Delta-variant out there....there's been this odd public discussion via public TV news....that a booster shot will be mandated. When? It's not really something with an ironclad date on it. Sometimes, you hear a comment that the booster shot will be ready by late December 2021.
So by this chatter, you get the impression that while folks may think they are done once they get the two-shot deal on the vaccination....it's now likely that they will be mandated in some fashion to get the booster. The question then becomes....if you refuse the booster (having gotten the initial two-shot deal)....will you be dumped into the non-access group (forbidden access to soccer stadiums and indoor bars)? Well....you just don't know.
Will more boosters come up year-by-year? This is another 'you just don't know' situation.
It is a curious situation, and will likely play out to be a top ten topic in 2022, with probably a quarter of the population in a frustrated state of mind. Don't worry....state-by-state elections will occur in 2022, and these frustrated folks will have a chance to 'fire' parties then.
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