Promoters of “voluntary assisted dying” often seem to be lacking a gene for irony. Take the Australian activist, Dr Philip Nitschke, and his attempt to make a new career as a stand-up comedian (“Dicing with Dr Death”). Or Belgium’s leading euthanasia doctor, Wim Distelmans, and his study tour of Auschwitz. The latest example comes from Germany, where an assisted suicide organisation is mandating Covid-19 vaccination for its clients.

Since 2020, assisted suicide has been legal in Germany. Its Supreme Court discovered in its constitution a right to dispose of your life, and therefore a right to be helped to dispose of your life.

Hence organisations like Verein Sterbehilfe (Association for Help in Dying) have sprung up to knock people off for a fee. If you are a member, you just ring them up, sign a few forms, hand over a few thousand Euros to cover expenses, and take the lethal medication. So smooth and easy.

It was all going swimmingly until Covid-19 hit. The “we’re here to help you die” folks drew the line at risking their own lives.

The Verein Sterbehilfe has a strict NO Covid policy. It insists that it will not help anyone to die unless they are vaccinated against Covid or have recovered from Covid. It explains:

Euthanasia and the preparatory examination of the voluntary responsibility of our members willing to die require human closeness. Human closeness, however, is a prerequisite and breeding ground for coronavirus transmission. As of today, the 2G [vaxxed or recovered] rule applies in our association, supplemented by situation-related measures, such as quick tests before encounters in closed rooms.

This makes sense, right? After all, the definition of social life as “a prerequisite and breeding ground for coronavirus transmission” is the premise of all lockdowns, in Germany and elsewhere.

Besides, the staff of Verein Sterbehilfe are there to help and it wouldn’t be fair if they copped a sniffle after trying to kill someone.

So, in a kind of Alice in Wonderland logic:

If you want to die, you have to get vaxxed so that you won’t die.

If you are sick, you have to recover, so that you can die.

Twitter, of course, went wild about this. My favourite comment was: “This is only ONE mandate that I actually support! In fact if you get the vax, you might get lucky and avoid paying for euthanasia if you die from the vax itself.”