BERLIN: German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach does not expect a fourth dose to be mandatory if the country introduces compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations as long as a person has had their third jab, Rheinische Post newspaper reported on Saturday.

"Anyone who has had three vaccinations with mRNA vaccines or a similarly effective vaccine today or in the future has a good basic immunisation. Today's triple vaccination would satisfy any vaccination obligation," Lauterbach told Rheinische Post.

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He added the German government is working on a "duty to provide proof of vaccination" rather than a duty to get vaccinated.

"No doctor should be obliged to urge people to vaccinate," Lauterbach told the newspaper, referring to the reaction of public health care doctors who had opposed the enforcement of state-imposed compulsory vaccination in their practices.