Austria signs law making Covid vaccine compulsory for ALL adults

February 4, 2022

Austria signs law making Covid vaccine compulsory for ALL adults – giving citizens a month to get jabbed or face being randomly checked and fined by police

Austria is the first Western democracy to introduce a Covid vaccine mandate
The mandate comes into effect from tomorrow after being signed earlier today
Those who refuse to get the jab can face fines up to 3,600 euros ($4,100)
Fines will be introduced from mid-March following an ‘introductory phase’
Austria has seen protests ever since the measure was announced in November

Austria is set to become the first Western democracy to impose a Covid-19 vaccine mandate on its citizens after its president signed the measure into law on Friday.

The law, which will come into power tomorrow, makes Covid vaccination mandatory for all adults except pregnant women and those with a medical exemption.

Those who refuse to get the jab can face fines up to 3,600 euros ($4,100) after mid-March following an ‘introductory phase’ that will see a staggered roll-out.

President Alexander Van der Bellen’s signature was the final step after the controversial bill that easily passed through Austria’s parliament.

While the sense of urgency in Austria has largely evaporated, officials say the mandate still makes sense.

‘The vaccine mandate won´t immediately help us break the omicron wave, but that wasn´t the goal of this law,’ Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein said Thursday before parliament’s upper house approved the plan.

‘The vaccine mandate should help protect us from the next waves, and above all from the next variants.’

Austrian cities meanwhile have seen demonstrations in which tens of thousands have protested mandatory vaccination on an almost weekly basis ever since the measure was announced in November.

Austria is set to become the first Western democracy to impose a Covid-19 vaccine mandate on its citizens after its president signed the measure into law on Friday. President Alexander Van der Bellen’s signature was the final step after the controversial bill that easily passed through Austria’s parliament (Van der Bellen pictured in October)

People scream at the police officers as they stop the demonstration march against the country’s coronavirus restrictions in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022

Other countries struggling with low-vaccine uptake will be observing Austria as a test case in the coming months, but very few other nations appear likely to follow suit with many turning their attention to loosening restrictions.

The mandate has broad political support in Austria – with all parties except the far-right rallying behind it – in a bid to drive up the country’s vaccination rate.

It will be some time before Austria’s 8.9 million people notice any practical change, and it is not clear when or even if the toughest part of the plan will take effect.

Only in mid-March will police start checking people’s vaccination status during traffic stops and checks on coronavirus restrictions.

People who can’t produce proof of vaccination will be asked in writing to do so and will be fined up to 600 euros ($680) if they don’t. Fines could reach 3,600 euros if people contest their punishment.

Authorities hope the measure will drive up a vaccination rate that is relatively low for Western Europe: 69 per cent of the population is considered fully vaccinated.

In a third phase, officials will check the national vaccination register and send reminders to people who still aren’t vaccinated, leading to potential fines. When and if those methodical checks start depends on whether authorities deem vaccination progress sufficient.

‘I would like us not to need phase three at all,’ Mueckstein said

The mandate for people 18 and over takes effect on Saturday, two and a half months after the plan was first announced amid a surge of delta-variant cases that sent the country into a since-lifted lockdown.

A man gets a dose of Comirnaty, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), less than a week before the start of compulsory vaccination in Austria during the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at a vaccination centre in Salzburg, Austria, January 31, 2022

A police officer checks the vaccination status of a visitor during a patrol in a shopping mall in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022

It comes into force as nations across Europe and beyond have seen infections reach unprecedented levels because of the omicron variant, which is highly contagious but generally causes milder illness and already appears to be levelling off or dropping in some places.

Dr. Susanne Drapalik, overseeing Vienna’s biggest vaccination centre, said she still thinks more people will get their shots because of the mandate.

The vaccination centre was running at half-capacity on Friday, with only one of its two floors in use.

While there was an increase in November and December, demand for first shots lately has been ‘like a few raindrops’ rather than a big rush, she said. ‘But we are still hopeful that people can be convinced.’

Not everyone agrees the new rules are still worth having.

Dr. Susanne Drapalik, overseeing Vienna’s biggest vaccination centre, said she still thinks more people will get their shots because of the mandate. The vaccination centre was running at half-capacity on Friday, with only one of its two floors in use (man being vaccinated in Vienna, April 2021)

‘I don’t really see the added value of the vaccine mandate at this point,’ said Gerald Gartlehner, an epidemiologist at the Danube University Krems.

He argued that omicron’s highly infectious nature and milder symptoms have changed things and that much of the population now has immunity, via either vaccination or infection.

Elsewhere in Europe, some countries have vaccine mandates for specific professional or age groups, but only Germany is seriously considering a requirement for all adults.

And its prospects are unclear, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s own coalition divided on the issue and parliament left to design a mandate.

Some other European countries have vaccine mandates for specific professional or age groups, but only Germany is seriously considering a requirement for all adults (Chancellor Olaf Scholz pictured on Wednesday)

Germany does have a vaccine mandate for the military and has approved legislation that will require workers at hospitals and nursing homes to show that they are fully vaccinated or have recovered by mid-March.

In Britain, vaccination is compulsory for nursing home staff, and the government had planned to expand that to front-line health care workers in April.

It is now reconsidering that amid concern about staff shortages. Calls last fall for mandatory vaccines in Belgium have faded.

Greece last month imposed a vaccination requirement for people 60 and older. Italy followed this week with a mandate under which people over 50 face a one-time 100-euro fine if they aren’t vaccinated.

Outside Europe, Ecuador announced in December that vaccination against the coronavirus will be mandatory for most citizens.

Moves to loosen restrictions are garnering more attention in Europe and beyond amid increasing pandemic fatigue. England, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and several Nordic countries have taken steps to end or loosen their restrictions.

Vaccine mandates have become highly polarizing in the U.S. since President Joe Biden (pictured Jan 2022) proposed requiring COVID-19 shots or regular testing at all workplaces with more than 100 employees. Republicans challenged the mandate, and the Supreme Court blocked it

In some places, like Norway and Denmark, the easing comes even though case counts are still hovering near their highs. Austria itself is easing some measures.

Vaccine mandates have become highly polarizing in the U.S. since President Joe Biden proposed requiring COVID-19 shots or regular testing at all workplaces with more than 100 employees. Republicans challenged the mandate, and the Supreme Court blocked it.

A scaled-back federal measure requiring vaccines for hospital and nursing home workers survived. The U.S. military is also requiring vaccines, and the Army this week said 3,300 soldiers are at risk of being discharged for refusing to get their shots.

Vaccine rules have set off raucous demonstrations in Canada in the past week, with protesters upset over a new requirement that truckers entering the country be fully immunized.

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