Corona vaccination has been mandatory for soldiers in the Bundeswehr since November 2021. Two Air Force officers see this as a violation of their right to physical integrity and are suing against the decision. The Federal Administrative Court has now dismissed the appeal.
The corona vaccination remains mandatory for soldiers in the Bundeswehr. The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig dismissed the complaints of two Air Force officers against the inclusion of the Covid 19 vaccination in the list of mandatory vaccinations. Among other things, the plaintiffs saw their basic right to physical integrity violated by the regulation and demanded that the vaccination be removed from the list, but were unsuccessful in doing so.
Since the end of November, soldiers have been obliged to tolerate the corona vaccination, provided there are no medical reasons to do so. The basis is the Soldiers’ Law, which also stipulates compulsory vaccination for tetanus, hepatitis and other diseases.
From the point of view of the plaintiffs, the corona vaccination has not been sufficiently researched, and it does not prevent infection or disease. The “unfortunate duty of toleration must be overturned,” emphasized the plaintiff’s lawyer, Wilfried Schmitz, in his closing speech. Vaccination is a dangerous experiment incompatible with human dignity and the right to physical integrity.
The vaccination had no benefit, but caused a wave of vaccination damage, especially since the omicron variant was by far milder than all previous variants. According to Schmitz, the methods of the Robert Koch Institute and the Paul Ehrlich Institute are based on incomplete data. In addition, the virus mainly affects people with previous illnesses. But this is about soldiers whose fitness and immune system is above average.
One of the suing Air Force officers said in conclusion that it was about finding the truth. The military leadership is driven by fear and refuses effective vaccination monitoring. In addition, with a vaccination rate of currently 94 percent in the Bundeswehr, herd immunity has long been achieved.
On the other hand, the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Defense uphold the legality of the obligation to tolerate. The other side failed to provide any evidence that the procedure was flawed. The vaccination is still without alternative for the operational capability of the Bundeswehr. The court now declared that the Federal Ministry of Defense should examine and weigh up possible new findings on vaccination before issuing a new order for a booster vaccination.
At the start of the hearing in May, the presiding judge, Richard Häußler, made it clear that a decision in this case would only affect the two plaintiff officers. Further proceedings by soldiers from different units on the subject are pending before the Federal Administrative Court.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the proportion of vaccinated and recovered soldiers who currently have full immunization is 94 percent. The vaccination rate of those involved in foreign assignments is therefore 100 percent. So far there have been around 60,000 corona cases among the 183,638 soldiers.
Soldiers have to be vaccinated against a whole range of diseases if there are no particular health reasons not to do so. These include hepatitis, measles, rubella, mumps and influenza. On November 24, 2021, the Ministry of Defense included a Covid-19 vaccination as mandatory in the general regulations for the central service regulation “Vaccination and other prophylactic measures”. Since then, there has been a so-called toleration obligation for this vaccination. Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who disobeys the vaccination schedule.
