Covid: Austria suspends compulsory vaccination law

Europe 1 with AFP 10:24 p.m., March 10, 2022

The Austrian government announced on Wednesday the suspension of the law on compulsory vaccination against Covid-19, barely a month after its entry into force, in the face of the lesser danger of the Omicron variant.

"We have decided to follow the advice of the commission of experts" and to "suspend" the text, announced the Minister in charge of the Constitution Karoline Edtstadler, during a press conference in Vienna.

"An infringement of fundamental rights" which is no longer "justified"

"We do not see at this time the need to implement the vaccination obligation in view of the current variant", which causes less severe symptoms than the previously dominant Delta variant, she explained.

In this context, "this attack on fundamental rights" does not seem "justified", not "proportional" to the risk posed by the coronavirus pandemic, added Karoline Edtstadler.

A progress report will be made in three months.

“Just as the virus is constantly evolving, we must also be flexible and adaptable,” the minister stressed.

The law entered into force on February 5, an unprecedented measure in the European Union (EU) and which had aroused strong opposition from part of the population of 8.9 million inhabitants.

"The result of the pressure exerted in the street", says the FPÖ

The far-right FPÖ party, the only one to have voted against in Parliament, welcomed this suspension, seeing it as "the result of pressure exerted in the street".

Its leader Herbert Kickl however regretted that this "unconstitutional" law was not purely and simply repealed.

For several weeks after the announcement of the project in November, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to castigate a measure described as radical and draconian.

The liberals of the Neos party (opposition) have meanwhile warned of "a new debacle in the fall" if "the government remains idly by" in the coming months.

Nearly 9 million Austrians were affected

All residents over the age of 18 in this country of 8.9 million people were affected by the law, with the exception of pregnant women, those who contracted the virus less than 180 days ago and finally of those who could be exempted for medical reasons.

The checks were to begin in mid-March, with penalties ranging from 600 to 3,600 euros.

Voices were raised to review the text, while Austria put an end to most health restrictions in early March.

Especially since the measure has not made it possible to significantly boost the vaccination rate, which is still around 70% of the population, i.e. below the levels observed in France or Spain.

The Alpine country has deplored more than 15,000 deaths since the emergence of the pandemic.

It is currently recording tens of thousands of new cases every day – nearly 48,000 on Thursday, a record – without the hospital system being overwhelmed.