Merkel rejects mandatory vaccination in Germany

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday rejected the idea of mandatory vaccination and would instead rely on promoting the benefits of immunization to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a visit to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Merkel said the government could "gain trust by advertising vaccination". The goal was to educate citizens and turn them into "advertisers, ambassadors of vaccination", she added.

In order to manage the rising number of infections caused by the Delta variant, a total of 85 percent of Germans between the ages of 12 and 59 and 90 percent of those over 60 would need to be vaccinated, according to Merkel. Germany was still a "long way from these vaccination rates".

As of Monday, almost 35.8 million people in Germany had been fully vaccinated, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 43.0 percent, according to the RKI. More than 48 million people have received at least one vaccine dose.

The incidence rate in Germany still remained at a relatively low level of 6.5 reported COVID-19 cases in the past seven days per 100,000 citizens, up from 6.4 on Monday, according to the RKI, the federal agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention.

To date, almost 3.74 million COVID-19 infections have been officially registered in Germany since the outbreak of the pandemic, and the death toll stood at 91,259.