Vaccination for the coronavirus is no longer mandatory in Austria, as announced by the government, just one month after its implementation.
The obligation for him will no longer exist vaccination for coronavirus in Austria after the government announced today the complete abandonment of the compulsory vaccination policy against Covid-19, a policy that had been suspended in March just one month after its entry into force.
“Now we have to live with Covid, so we will implement a series of measures, which means ending the mandatory vaccination,” Health Minister Johannes Rauch told a news conference in Vienna.
The strategy “was implemented in a different context”, when the hospital units were overcrowded, he noted.
“But the Omicron variant changed the rules,” he added. “Even those who have been vaccinated are now reluctant to take another dose.”
The law is not considered “medically necessary” by the panel of experts, and has created “a deep divide in Austrian society,” Rauch said.
The legislation entered into force on 5 February, an unprecedented measure in the European Union (EU), which provoked strong reactions from a section of the population of 9 million.
The measure of compulsory vaccination concerned all citizens aged 18 and over, with the exception of pregnant women, those who had been ill during the previous 180 days and those who could be excluded for medical reasons. The inspections were expected to begin in mid-March, with fines ranging from 600 to 3,600 euros.
In the end, however, the government decided to suspend law enforcement in the face of the lower degree of danger of the Omicron variant.
“There is a lot of argument at the moment to say that this violation of fundamental rights is not justified,” said Carolyn Edstadler, the secretary of state for constitutional affairs.
In addition, the law failed to persuade those reluctant to get vaccinated.
Today, about 62% of the population has a valid vaccination certificate, one of the lowest rates in Western European countries.
The Alpine country has recorded more than 18,700 deaths from the outbreak of the pandemic.
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