Pressure is growing: Austria's chancellor no longer rules out the end of compulsory vaccination

Created: 02/13/2022, 19:43

By: Andreas Schmid

Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer can now imagine moving away from compulsory vaccination.

© Hans Punz/APA/dpa

Hardly introduced, the corona vaccination in Austria could soon be history again.

Doubts are growing, and Chancellor Nehammer is not ruling out an end to the law.

Vienna - Austria is the only western democracy in which there is a general obligation to vaccinate.

In many countries there is a mandatory corona vaccination for nursing staff - for example in France or Belgium - or for older people like in Greece or Italy.

The general corona vaccination, which is valid for everyone, has so far only been decided in Austria.

While Germany is still discussing a similar model, doubts are growing in the Alpine republic.

Since Sunday at the latest, an explosive question has arisen: Is vaccination compulsory just a few days after it was officially introduced?

Corona: Austria's government does not rule out the end of compulsory vaccination

In fact, the vaccination requirement that has just come into force could soon be suspended again.

If an expert council speaks out in favor of it, they will stick to it, said Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) of the Austrian

.

However, the commission he mentioned does not yet exist.

Consultations between the federal government and the federal states will take place on Wednesday.

The law that has been in force since last weekend is constantly being evaluated, said Nehammer.

"A commission of lawyers and doctors is constantly reassessing whether vaccination is still the legal means," said Nehammer.

When asked whether the law could soon be history, the Chancellor said: "If the experts judge it that way and propose it to the government, then yes.

The purpose of this law was never to take coercive measures, but to find the right answer at the right time for the respective danger of the virus.

Corona vaccination obligation in Austria: several country heads are putting pressure on

Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck (ÖVP) no longer wants to rule out an end to compulsory vaccination.

Vaccination remains an important instrument of pandemic policy, but one should “not be stubborn,” she told ORF television.

The biggest doubts about the law come from the respective state governments.

They are also responsible for implementing compulsory vaccination, for example collecting penalties for those who refuse to vaccinate.

The provincial governors from Salzburg, Upper Austria, Carinthia and Burgenland recently expressed public criticism of the general obligation to vaccinate.

The office of governor is comparable to that of the German prime minister.

Carinthia's head of state Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) advocated "checking the proportionality of the vaccination requirement".

But it was also his party colleagues in the federal government who supported the law.

Most SPÖ MPs voted for general vaccination, as did the liberal Neos, the co-governing Greens and the Chancellor's Party ÖVP.

Video: Salzburg's head of state Haslauer against compulsory vaccination

Corona vaccination obligation in Austria: "Then we should suspend them"

In Austria, since the introduction of general compulsory vaccination, there has been increasing criticism of the law.

Some are concerned with the concrete implementation, which was already in doubt before the law*.

The organizational and bureaucratic hurdles seem to have been underestimated by the black-green government.

The fact that Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) delegated responsibility to the federal states at short notice made criticism louder.

On the other hand, there are also voices in Austria that reject a general obligation to vaccinate completely, and thus also for medical reasons.

They refer to other countries, where there is a massive relaxation even without compulsory vaccination *, and argue with the health system.

Due to the more contagious but milder omicron variant, the situation in Austria is also comparatively relaxed.

The situation in the hospitals is stable, said Salzburg's governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP).

It is therefore necessary to check “whether this compulsory vaccination is really absolutely necessary to ensure the functioning of our hospitals”.

If this is not the case, one should “make the decision to suspend the obligation to vaccinate”.