germany medical austria
Can a person be vaccinated against their will in Austria or Germany?
<p>Is it legal for someone to be vaccinated against their will in Germany and Austria?</p>
<p>Are there reasonable circumstances, under which this would be legal (e. g. if the government declares martial law and civil law is suspended)?</p>
<p>My question is different from these 2 (<a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/56039/can-a-vaccine-be-required-by-law">1</a>, <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/46019/bill-of-rights-protection-against-mandatory-vaccination">2</a>) because it is about Germany and Austria (not US).</p>

<h1>Yes and no</h1>
<p>In Germany, the first case where vaccination was mandatory was Smallpox. The Bundesverwaltungsgericht had adjudicated back in Juli 1959 – <a href="https://dejure.org/dienste/vernetzung/rechtsprechung?Gericht=BVerwG&amp;Datum=14.07.1959&amp;Aktenzeichen=I%20C%20170.56" rel="noreferrer">I C 170.56</a> - that mandatory Vaccination (Impfpflicht) against Smallpox follows the <strong>Impfgesetz of 1874 (RGBl. S. 31)</strong> which was declared a) still good law and b) in line with the Grundgesetz and so enforced vaccination of everybody who had no counterindication was inside the law.</p>
<p>Currently, the measles are under mandatory vaccination with the <a href="https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/impfpflicht/faq-masernschutzgesetz.html" rel="noreferrer">Masernschutzgesetz</a><sup>Information, german</sup> aka <strong>IFSG § 20</strong><sup><a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ifsg/__20.html" rel="noreferrer">law, german</a></sup> (Measles are listed in Abs 8). The same rationale and legal basis from those two can be applied to theoretically any other vaccination - if it is comparably terrible. The Masernschutzgesetz declares that without MMR vaccination you can't work in some jobs, like as a medical care worker, teacher or in a Kindergarten, and you can't be enrolled in a school or Kindergarten, unless you have a counterindication. Note that you do need to visit a public school, so the Masernschutzgesetz is total mandatory vaccination against measles for kids.</p>
<p>The 2020 update on the law of infectious diseases (Gesetz zur Verhütung und Bekämpfung von Infektionskrankheiten beim Menschen. short: Infektionsschutzgesetz/IFSG, see above) still (and actually did since the measles change in 2019) open the door to make some vaccination mandatory exceeding the measles in <strong>IFSG §20 Abs 6</strong> - for <em>especially vulnerable</em> parts of the population:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Das Bundesministerium für Gesundheit wird ermächtigt, durch Rechtsverordnung mit Zustimmung des Bundesrates anzuordnen, dass bedrohte Teile der Bevölkerung an Schutzimpfungen oder anderen Maßnahmen der spezifischen Prophylaxe teilzunehmen haben, wenn eine übertragbare Krankheit mit klinisch schweren Verlaufsformen auftritt und mit ihrer epidemischen Verbreitung zu rechnen ist. Personen, die auf Grund einer medizinischen Kontraindikation nicht an Schutzimpfungen oder an anderen Maßnahmen der spezifischen Prophylaxe teilnehmen können, können durch Rechtsverordnung nach Satz 1 nicht zu einer Teilnahme an Schutzimpfungen oder an anderen Maßnahmen der spezifischen Prophylaxe verpflichtet werden. § 15 Abs. 2 gilt entsprechend.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The general gist of that paragraph is: Following a regulated process, people that are <strong>vulnerable</strong> and under a <strong>present and current</strong> risk of an epidemic and that <strong>do not have counterindication</strong> can be mandated to undergo prophylactic treatment, which can include or be a specific vaccination.</p>
<h3>TL:DR</h3>
<p>So yes, there is mandatory vaccination in <a href="/questions/tagged/germany" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;germany&#39;" rel="tag">germany</a>, but currently not for everyone but based on certain criteria.</p>

<p>It seems pretty clear that the Nuremburg Code was enacted specifically to forbid FORCED vaccinations.</p>
<p><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCrnberger_Kodex" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCrnberger_Kodex</a></p>
<p>Points 1 and 9 specifically say that vaccines cannot be forced on anyone and other parts bring up questions of sufficient testing on animals and other legal points that would prevent a vaccine that was prepared for a virus that came out in, say 2019, from being considered safe from harmful side-effects.</p>
