On Wednesday, Austria suspended its general obligation to vaccinate against the corona virus after a month of validity.

The government in Vienna justified this by saying that the current course of the pandemic no longer makes it absolutely necessary.

If that were to be the case again at a later point in time, the obligation could be made effective again under the law, which continues to exist.

Stephen Lowenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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The vaccination requirement officially came into force at the beginning of February, but was not enforced for the time being.

According to the original plans, controls should have taken place from March 15 and any penalties should have been imposed.

Shortly before this date, the government not only extended the control-free period, but also suspended the obligation to vaccinate as such.

Austria's general obligation to vaccinate had also attracted a great deal of international attention.

The country was a pioneer in Europe.

However, the implementation was afflicted with serious shortcomings from the start.

The basic decision to vaccinate was taken last October when a fourth general lockdown was imposed due to the high occupancy rates in the intensive care units during the delta wave.

Because the government, especially the chancellor party ÖVP, had previously made the political promise that the pandemic would be over for those who had been vaccinated, the announcement of compulsory vaccination served as compensation.

But they wanted to give themselves time until February in order not to rush through the difficult legal matter.

Commission Says “Not Appropriate”

In terms of parliamentary legitimacy, this differed from some previous approaches.

However, it had the paradoxical consequence that the vaccination campaign, which had been laboriously restarted, immediately stalled again, at least as far as new vaccinations are concerned.

Anyone who was skeptical or critical of vaccinations felt compelled to wait and see whether and how the law would come about.

At the same time, these positions were hardened, not least due to a sharp campaign by the right-wing FPÖ and the emergence of a new anti-measures party called MFG.

The design of the law led to further waiting: First of all, no controls, from mid-March only on a random basis, and anyone who is caught violating can still "vaccinate" themselves from the penalty.

Since compulsory vaccination came into force on February 4, only 26,018 unvaccinated people in Austria have been vaccinated.

Less than 70 percent of the total population of around 9 million inhabitants has a currently valid vaccination certificate.

The government in Vienna had set up a commission of doctors and lawyers, on whose proposals they could now base their backing down.

The crucial passage in its evaluation reads: “It is not to be expected that a general vaccination requirement at the present time will be able to have a significant impact on the burden on the medical infrastructure from Covid 19 patients.” The obligation is therefore “not appropriate “.

In autumn, however, a new wave of corona infections is very likely to be expected.

Vaccinations are therefore still strongly recommended.

A new decision will be made in three months

The decision to suspend fell to the new Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens), whose predecessor Wolfgang Mückstein resigned last week.

Rauch announced that the commission would submit another report in three months, on the basis of which a new decision would then be made.

The current report already refers to models according to which protection against Covid 19 infection and severe courses would be reduced to ten or 35 to 50 percent in October.

Without further vaccinations in late summer or early autumn, there is a risk of up to 58,000 new infections every day and the need for up to 3,000 intensive care beds.

The experts doubt that the necessary number of vaccinations can then be achieved without being required to do so.

This can “with a high degree of probability” only be ensured to some extent by compulsory vaccination.

Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) said on Wednesday: “Just as the virus is very mobile, we have to be flexible and adaptable.” The law is only suspended by a regulation.

The fact that the vaccination requirement is completely suspended and not just the penalties is a conscious step, said Rauch and Edtstadler.

"It's exactly what I said as a former judge: A law without sanctions is toothless and pointless," said the ÖVP politician.

Coincidentally, on the same day that the government suspended compulsory vaccination against the coronavirus, a new infection record was recorded: 47,795 new infections in one day.