Ljubljana - The newspaper Delo makes a case in favour of mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 in Tuesday's front-page commentary, arguing that appeals alone will not do to attain sufficient vaccination rates.

The commentator, Delo's correspondent in Germany, notes debate on mandatory vaccination in that country where politics "clashed against the bitter reality": those who had intended to get a jab have got it, but their numbers are much too low for hospitals to stand the pressure of the sick.

Noting the many dilemmas surrounding mandatory vaccination, including that it would divide society, the paper says that society is divided already, between those who have got the jab and those who have not.

It quotes an example of an acquaintance whose GP said she recommended vaccination after the age of 55, while earlier it did not make a difference.

"The case shows clearly that the fact that a great majority of experts agree on the necessity of vaccination has not come home to some people, even many. Even some GPs. There is also the problem of choice and decision.

"Mandatory vaccination may be the path leading out of those dilemmas, as it would lift the responsibility of decision off the individual's shoulders," writes the commentator under the headline Crashing against Bitter Reality adding that when self-testing at schools became mandatory problems disappeared.

"Voluntariness has the connotation of unimportance, non-necessity. It sends out the message that the situation is not that serious or else the measure would be mandatory. But it is, regardless of how we shut our eyes to it. The state has a duty to protect us if necessary even against ourselves. Including with mandatory vaccination against Covid-19."