In the fight against the corona pandemic, Austria was the first EU country to make general vaccination compulsory. The vast majority of the members of the National Council in Vienna approved the proposed law.
“Today is an important day,” said Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) on Thursday at the beginning of his speech to parliamentarians. With the obligation to vaccinate, you now have a large and particularly sustainable lever in the fight against the pandemic. “This is how we can manage to escape the cycle of unlocking and locking, waves and lockdowns, and that’s why this law is so urgently needed,” said the minister before the vote, which was preceded by a heated debate.
This means that from the beginning of February, the corona vaccination will be mandatory for everyone over the age of 18, otherwise there will be fines of up to 3,600 euros from mid-March. The only exceptions are pregnant women and people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and those who have recovered for a period of six months. The measure is not intended to protect against the omicron variant, but rather against possible future waves and virus variants and to prevent hospitals from being overloaded and lockdowns.
In addition to the governing coalition of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Greens, the majority of opposition MPs – Social Democrats (SPÖ) and liberal Neos – also voted in favor. The government has ruled out the introduction of compulsory vaccination for a long time. The measure was announced in November at the same time as the fourth lockdown. The four parliamentary parties worked together with experts on the draft law. Only the right-wing populist FPÖ completely rejects compulsory vaccination and voted against it. Critics say the law may not be constitutional. In the past few weeks, thousands of people in the country have also demonstrated against the corona measures.
New infection records in Austria
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, 6.4 million people (71.8 percent of the total population) currently have a valid vaccination certificate. New infections jumped to a record 27,677 cases the previous day. Despite the high incidence of infection, the situation in the hospitals is largely stable. The government now wants to boost the vaccination rate – Austria is similar to Germany and Switzerland – with financial incentives. In a vaccination fleet, participants who have already been vaccinated and those who are only getting vaccinated can win vouchers worth 500 euros, said Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP).
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“The vaccination requirement, which none of us wanted, has unfortunately become necessary to close the vaccination gap,” said SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner. “Only then do we have a realistic chance of life as we knew it before Corona”. However, she also emphasized that the law should not apply a day longer than necessary.
But there were also critical voices from the opposition: “The vaccination comes too late for the omicron wave. And for the time after that we don’t know a lot,” said Neos MP Gerald Loacker. The obligation to vaccinate does not help, it only splits society. The FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl said that compulsory vaccination is “a gigantic attack on people’s freedom”. He himself wants to remain unvaccinated despite compulsory vaccination.
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