'Not going down this road': Merkel says vaccines not compulsory in Germany

While local authorities are urging people to get vaccinated as soon as possible, Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has assured that coronavirus vaccinations will not be made compulsory in the country.

"We have no intention of going down this road," Merkel said in a press conference. "There will be no compulsory vaccination."

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The German leader’s announcement came a day after France’s leader, Emmanuel Macron, announced that people who do not get vaccinated will face some restrictions in key areas. Talking about the same, Merkel has assured that Germany will not be following France and other countries.

However, she also urged locals to get vaccinated on their own as soon as possible. "The more are vaccinated, the more free we can be again," she told locals. "We are at the beginning of the phase in which we are still promoting (vaccination), where we have more vaccines than we have people who want to be vaccinated."

Her statement has come a few months after the country started the vaccination programme earlier this year. The campaign saw a slow start but authorities managed to fully vaccinate 42.6 per cent of adults and 58.5 per cent of locals have been vaccinated at least with one dose.