German parliament rejects over-60s vaccine mandate

In a stinging defeat for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, 378 MPs voted against the bill, while 296 voted in favour. 

Scholz, who in late November touted compulsory jabs for all adults as the surest way out of the pandemic, had set a goal of introducing the jabs in “late February or early March”.

The bill saw two groups of pro-vaccine MPs from the SPD, Greens and FDP join forces to put forward a “compromise” bill that they believed would attract maximal cross-party support.

If passed, it would have required over-60s to present proof of triple-vaccination against Covid-19 by October 1st, 2022, unless they had a medical exemption.