eschweiler germany is poised to pass the mark of 100000 deaths from covid19 this week a somber milestone that several of its neighbours crossed months ago but which western europes most populous nation had hoped to avoiddiscipline a robust health care system and the rollout of multiple vaccines one of them homegrown were meant to stave off a winter surge of the kind that hit germany last yearin practice germans faced a confusing array of pandemic rules lax enforcement and a national election followed by a drawnout government transition during which senior politicians dangled the prospect of further lifting restrictions even as the infection rate rosenobody had the guts to take the lead and announce unpopular measures said uwe janssens who heads the intensive care department at the st antonius hospital in eschweiler west of colognethis lack of leadership is the reason we are here now he saiddoctors like janssens are bracing for an influx of coronavirus patients as confirmed cases hit fresh daily highs that experts say is also being fueled by vaccine skepticsresistance to getting the shot including the one developed by german company biontech together with us partner pfizer remains strong among a sizeable minority of the country vaccination rates have stalled at 68 of the population far short of the 75 or higher that the government had aimed forweve increasingly got younger people in intensive care said janssens the amount of time theyre treated is significantly longer and it blocks intensive care beds for a longer periodolder people who got vaccinated early in 2021 are also seeing their immunity wear off making them vulnerable to serious illness again he said echoing problems seen during the initial vaccine rollout authorities have struggled to meet demand for boosters even as they tried to encourage holdouts to get their first shotsome german politicians are suggesting its time to consider a vaccine mandate either for specific professions or for the population as a whole austria took that step last week announcing covid19 shots will become compulsory for all starting in february after seeing a similar reluctance to get vaccinated fuel fresh outbreaks and hospitalizationsgermanys outgoing chancellor angela merkel said in june that she didnt favor such a measure signaling a possible shift in position merkel summoned leaders from the three parties negotiating to form the next government for talks tuesday at the chancellery to discuss the pandemic situationmerkels likely successor current finance minister olaf scholz of the centerleft social democrats has refused to be drawn on whether he would back compulsory covid19 shotstogether with the environmentalist greens and the probusiness free democrats his party recently passed a law that replaces the existing legal foundations for pandemic restrictions with narrower measures starting wednesday these include a requirement for workers to provide their employers with proof of vaccination recovery or a negative test but the change also makes it harder for germanys 16 governors to impose hard lockdowns without getting approval from state assembliesgetting those majorities may be particularly tricky