German Lawmakers May Decide on Mandating COVID Vaccine for Adults by End of March

German lawmakers may make a final decision on whether to impose a universal COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the nation by the end of March. The county's biggest governing party, the center-left Social Democrats, announced the timeline goal Thursday amid widespread resistance against such a measure and a continued rise in virus cases.

Germany's disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 58,912 new infections on Wednesday and another 346 deaths, raising the total pandemic death count up to 112,925. The figure was up 47 percent from the same day last week, Reuters reported.

Last month, the German parliament approved legislation that would mandate hospital and nursing home staff to either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or show that they have recovered from the virus by mid-March. But efforts to impose a mandate that would go beyond just health care workers and staff have been slower moving.

Dagmar Schmidt and Dirk Wiese, two senior German lawmakers with the Social Democrats party of new Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said in a statement Thursday that because the issue of enacting a more universal vaccine requirement needs extensive consideration, "we will take sufficient time for this."

They called for an initial debate in parliament this month, but said that "we aim to conclude the legislative process in the first quarter of this year," the news agency dpa reported.

Scholz has backed such a mandate, but wants to have lawmakers vote according to their personal conscience rather than on party lines. The idea is for parliament to vote on proposals drawn up by groups of lawmakers rather than by the government.

There are divisions on whether a universal mandate is desirable within Scholz's three-party government, notably in the ranks of the Free Democrats, the smallest coalition partner. And it isn't yet clear how the mandate would be designed.

The leader of the center-right opposition Union bloc's parliamentary group, Ralph Brinkhaus, said the government itself should draw up proposals. He told ARD television that the shape of a universal vaccine mandate is a "leadership decision" and Scholz "can't delegate this to parliament now."

The Free Democrats' leader, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, flatly rejected the idea of changing the approach. He said that deciding on the matter in a free vote is "a contribution to the reconciliation of society as a whole."

Neighboring Austria has drawn up draft legislation to introduce a universal vaccine mandate, which the government hopes will take effect next month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.