Following a discussion between its executive committee, its working group on health policy as well as the green representatives in government and the members of its parliamentary group, Déi Gréng said it is taking this controversial but necessary position.

“The reason we are now considering compulsory blanket vaccination is that policy must take seriously the scientists' assessments of the mutations of the virus and the dynamics of the pandemic,”  party presidents Djuna Bernand and Meric Sehovic said .

However, obligatory inoculation should not take place without certain rules and boundaries, as both presidents acknowledged that “the general obligation to vaccinate adults also represents an infringement of one of the fundamental rights of every individual.” 

The vaccination campaign should be limited in time, the party said, and only be introduced if the sanitary situation requires it, with its necessity confirmed by several independent scientists. Additionally, no particular professional sector should be targeted, but rather, every adult should be administered the shots. The party said it also didn’t want those refusing to follow the law to be prosecuted but to receive a fine. 

As a debate around the subject is brewing in parliament, the party said that vaccination is the most efficient and safe instrument to exit the pandemic, and that society and its citizens--particularly youths and children--have already been restricted by the pandemic for too long.

The national ethics commission, the Advisory Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) and other constitutional experts consider an eventual obligatory vaccination less of an attack to human rights than the current restrictions and dangers, it said.

Tensions have steadily risen in recent weeks, as tougher restrictions--such as a 3G CovidCheck regime in the work place from 15 January or 2G+ rules in the hospitality sector--have come into force. A petition to end CovidCheck for it to be debated in parliament. On the other side, health minister Paulette Lenert on 5 January said she c