Austria makes Covid19 vaccination mandatory as of Feb 2022

https://www.rainews.it/tgr/tagesschau/articoli/2021/11/tag-Oesterreich-Lockdown-Salzburg-Oberoesterreich-Pandemie-Coronavirus-fcd1b77f-d64d-4e52-8dae-23301a7c2790.html

by DyslexicAtheist • 5 years ago

88 118 5 years ago

rainews.it

jmnicolas6• 5 years ago

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) :

Austria is the first country in Europe to introduce mandatory Corona vaccination for all. The announcement was made by Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg following the government's meeting with state governors at Achensee in Tyrol. The mandatory vaccination will come into force on February 1. Due to the sharp rise in the number of infections and the overload of hospitals, a lockdown will be imposed across the country for 20 days starting Monday. After that, recovered and vaccinated people will be exempt from the lockdown.

Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg regretted that not enough people could be convinced of the usefulness of vaccination. He said the government had waited too long for people to voluntarily get vaccinated. In view of the many dead, sick and overburdened hospitals, there was now no other way out than compulsory vaccination. Unfortunately, many people had been deterred from vaccination by false news from radical opponents of vaccination. The Corona virus remains. The vaccination is until now the only means to be able to live halfway normal despite the virus.

Austria is suffering from a massive fourth wave of infection, which could not be broken with the measures taken so far.

kavalg4• 5 years ago

Are they also planning to implement a forced vaccination for the unwilling?

laydn2• 5 years ago

You do realize, a lot of vaccines are already mandatory all around the world right?

benjaminwootton• 5 years ago

I guess now you mention it, needing a yellow fever jab to enter Outer Mongolia is a precedent. Not sure what all the fuss is about.

Any seatbelt analogies for us too?

forlorn• 5 years ago

Maybe some of them are mandatory for a child after birth (though I question it because anyway doctors should get parent's signature to do it). But how could you force an adult who is totally ok with lockdown? Cut all access to basic necessities? Make police involved? How?

kavalg4• 5 years ago

Yes, I realize. Not against vaccines in general. I only wanted to know the extent to which the government is going to enforce it as in whether they fine you, put you to jail or vaccinate you forcibly against your will. I heard that the latter is already happening in Australia and personally know a person who fled to the EU for this reason.

j3th9n• 5 years ago

No they are not, you have a choice. Also in this case you have a choice, take the jab, leave the country or ehhh...get vaccinated forcefully? Commit suicide? Anyway, whatever, there is a choice and they have consequences or something. We live in a democracy you know.

blub5• 5 years ago

I thought that this is a very unusual step that Austria's taking, so I did some reading...

Germany, Austria and Switzerland don't have any mandatory vaccines for the general population. Only in Germany is vaccination against measles mandatory for children and caregivers (daycare, etc).

Austria in particular had no mandatory vaccination at all until they announced it now.

France and Italy seem to have many mandatory vaccinations for children.

c0l0• 5 years ago

No, but there will be fines ("Verwaltungsstrafen", which can be converted to "Ersatzfreiheitsstrafen" - jail time - if you are unable or unwilling to pay).

hyperstar• 5 years ago

How much? So rich wackos get a practically free pass, or will the fines be adjusted to weath?

makomk2• 5 years ago

Given how ineffective vaccines or any other measure have been at stopping Covid-19 from spreading within prisons, jail time for this is effectively sentencing people to be infected with a deadly disease in the name of protecting them against it (but only if they're poor and can't afford the fines). I'd say that any loss of trust in the state and medical industry resulting from that would be 100% earned.

ffwacom• 5 years ago

Had a heart attack thinking this was Australia.

beberlei• 5 years ago

Austria has it especially hard since they earn a lot of money from outside tourism during the winter ski season, which is the prime season for higher covid numbers and hospitalization overload. Its a desperate measure as they seem to loose at least half of the winter season this year again.

pretzelhands3• 5 years ago

And boy oh boy do they try their best to keep the winter revenue alive. Everybody in Europe probably remembers the joy of Ischgl.

noja• 5 years ago

They took five days to decide to close right?

bko2• 5 years ago

Forcing their people to undergo a medical procedure to accommodate tourists and allow the private tourist industry to profit sounds even more dystopian. If they're worried about hospital capacity, they should build more hospitals or restrict tourism.

thefz• 5 years ago

Here in Italy you receive forced vaccinations up until the age of 16. Some more are strongly encouraged after, see tethanus.

I can't understand why everyone is okay with vaccinating against polio after seeing its devastating and life altering effects on an unvaccinated adult, still refuse to protect themselves against a disease that killed millions in two years.

DyslexicAtheist4• 5 years ago

sorry for the original source it was the first place reporting on it while the news were announced. here are 2 stories from 15 mins ago in English:

https://www.politico.eu/article/austria-mandatory-coronaviru...

https://www.ft.com/content/ea306f29-4857-4fa4-9c9d-f3d8aed5d...

orbifold• 5 years ago

From the country that brought us Mozart, World War 1, Wittgenstein, Gödel, Hitler. So this is either a brilliant or horrible idea ^^

sasaf5• 5 years ago

+ Yodeling ^^

DyslexicAtheist4• 5 years ago

I just returned from Switzerland where I took yodeling classes. These classes are in huge demand by tourists. We were asked to form an orderly orderly orderly queue.

8as746fd4a5df• 5 years ago

People either have a reduced risk of infecting themselves and others like the vaccines provide it or they do not. Reality does not care about believes and concerns. If one ignores reality for too long, it will biff one right on the nose.

makomk2• 5 years ago

The current Covid-19 vaccines don't reduce people's risk of infecting themselves and others by nearly enough to control Covid outbreaks, and reality doesn't care about whatever sense of justice or political viewpoint is making people believe they do anyway. There's also diminishing returns for vaccinating the remaining part of the population, since their limited effectiveness means it doesn't take particularly high vaccination levels for vaccinated people to be the main ones who're catching, spreading, and getting hospitalized with the disease.

jahnu2• 5 years ago

It's not certain yet. The government are preparing the measures to try to do it though.

We are entering a 10-20 day lockdown countrywide from Monday though.

Meanwhile in Vienna airport you still have small smoking rooms full of passengers beside the gates.

AshamedCaptain3• 5 years ago

IMHO this is much better than all these "vaccination ID card" that many other countries have been implementing (including mine), which basically

A) effectively forces you to vaccinate anyway (unless you want to live like a monk)

B) means I have to show what is effectively an ID card everywhere I go (and I really mean everywhere), and the poor employees have to waste time checking it

sofixa6• 5 years ago

Regarding A, you can also get a test every few days and use that.

Regarding B, it depends on the country, in France nobody besides locations that are age restricted ( bars, sex clubs, etc.) have the right to ask for your ID, and it was explicitly clarified that this doesn't change with the Covid pass.

AshamedCaptain3• 5 years ago

Regarding A, getting the test every few days is even more problematic, privacy wise and convenience-wise. Plus it's an expense. Not a much better alternative than living like a monk.

Regarding B, yes it is France. The pass itself is asked for in ALL restaurants and a shitton of other establishments, e.g. (large) supermarkets and dept stores , libraries, public transportation, etc. <https://www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus/pass-sanitaire#...>

moroz2137• 5 years ago

A point a lot of people seem to miss is that there is a huge difference between making a vaccination mandatory, taking full responsibility for any side effects, and forcing people to get vaccinated by depriving them of their basic rights if they don't, but not taking any responsibility for side effects.

guynamedloren• 5 years ago

Would you mind explaining the difference between how these two scenarios play out, in practice?

lucozade• 5 years ago

In a country with a sensible healthcare system there will likely be no difference. In the US, say, there may well be. For example, if there are health consequences due to taking the vaccine, who pays?

jahnu2• 5 years ago

We have free universal healthcare in Austria. And the state carries responsibility for problems as long as a vaccine has been officially approved. It was possible to get COVID vaccine before approval (off label it's called) but you assume responsibility.

Also mandatory vaccines are not new either

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211029-why-mandatory-va...

blub5• 5 years ago

For Austria they are completely new... And AFAIK there's no European country which requires all adults to get any vaccine, it's mostly kids and specific professions.

raxxorrax2• 5 years ago

Well, people still have the ability to refuse at great costs to themselves and ultimately the state itself. I think the low level of protection and associated risks cannot establish enough room for a vaccination mandate. And that mandate is also again something different than a pass. I am vaccinated but I won't use a green pass. That shit won't ever go away again and we would see this every winter when the flu hits a bit harder.

tomjen33• 5 years ago

Shouldn't the medical companies carry the responsibility?

DyslexicAtheist4• 5 years ago

unwilling to get vaccinated is at least from a legal perspective not a "basic right". Austria had compulsory vaccination before (Smallpox). Measles vaccination is mandatory in Germany. The law is that during a pandemic the country is able to impose mandatory vaccinations.

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_policy#Compulsory_...

blub5• 5 years ago

It's not as clear cut as you say. The German constitutional court has not given its last word on the topic, even though they said in a preliminary decision that sufficient protection against Measles outweighs the right of unvaccinated children to go to school.

Nobody's actually forcing one to get vaccinated against measles in Germany. It's only mandatory for kids which go to daycare, kindergarten or school and their caregivers and teachers. OTOH, going to school is mandatory, so for kids it is pretty much mandatory by extension.

roenxi5• 5 years ago

I think even from a practical perspective it is shaky - forced medical procedures are distasteful but they are already morally on the table for things like insanity and similar things where decision making is impaired. So the raw power to do it is probably there and the ethical line is always subject to negotiation.

But how often are emergency powers of this nature rolled back? If governments put the monitoring systems in place to enforce a vaccine mandate it is never going to go away. It'll be War On Terror all over again, the theatre for getting on a plane is still ridiculous 20 years later. The vaccine mandate tracking and enforcement seems a lot more invasive than that.

AshamedCaptain3• 5 years ago

Apparently what a lot of people seem to miss is that this is not what is happening.

blub5• 5 years ago

Who knows what's happening? Everything depends on the enforcement, and there's no details on that yet except that it will be a "Verwaltungsstrafe" not to get vaccinated.

This would be a fine, but that's not saying much.

credit_guy2• 5 years ago

but not taking any responsibility for side effects.

Maybe you missed that, but the US Government does take responsibility for side effects.

VAERS = Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System [1]

VICP = National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program [2] -> this is for injuries you suffer from any vaccine

CICP = Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program -> this is for things such as the Covid vaccine

[1] https://vaers.hhs.gov/

[2] https://injurycompensation.hrsa.gov/

adevx• 5 years ago

Covid vaccines are not covered under the VICP program: https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/covered-vaccines/i... They are covered under https://www.hrsa.gov/cicp Which has notable differences (worse) in injuries covered, appeal possibilities and benefits. Differences: https://www.hrsa.gov/cicp/cicp-vicp

pretzelhands3• 5 years ago

As an Austrian I'd like to note: We've also previously had a vaccination mandate for smallpox. There's a precedent here, at least.

Whether you're for or against a vaccination mandate I leave up to debate. But either we get everyone vaccinated or everyone needs to actually follow proper COVID rules. The second option hasn't worked out great so far, as you might be able to tell.

tomp• 5 years ago

This is simply an anti-science viewpoint that isn't supported by the facts at all. Previously infected are better protected than fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated kids are less at risk that fully vaccinated adults. Even vaccinated people can spread the virus.

charbonneau22• 5 years ago

Sounds good. Currently analyzed index case–contact pairs exposed to Delta/B.1.617.2 show that, adjusting for age, ethnicity and index of multiple deprivation (IMD), the R0 increased modestly with genomic pre-alpha (difference of 0·39 [95% credible interval –0·03 to 0·79] in peak log10 viral lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adjusting peak, sed do eiusmod tempotentially explaining its success in infection prevention and control policies internationally.

_Microft• 5 years ago

Sounds good. Currently analyzed index case–contact pairs exposed to Delta/B.1.617.2 show that, adjusting for age, ethnicity and index of multiple deprivation (IMD), the R0 increased modestly with genomic pre-alpha (difference of 0·39 [95% credible interval –0·03 to 0·79] in peak log10 viral lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adjusting peak, sed do eiusmod tempotentially explaining its success in infection prevention and control policies internationally.

Inserting "Lorem ipsum" into what is made to look like an argument? That's definitely a new low here, even for discussions on Covid related measures.

thinkingemote2• 5 years ago

I believe it was a joke about scientific gibberish.

charbonneau22• 5 years ago

I'd argue that Lorem ipsum is the most effective argument for discussions on COVID-19 related measures. Just have a look at your country [1]:

1. Für welche der seit Beginn der Corona-Pandemie umgesetzten Schutzmaßnahmen liegen wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse über die Wirksamkeit vor, und welche Erkenntnisse sind dies?
2. Für welche der seit Beginn der Corona-Pandemie umgesetzten Schutzmaßnahmen liegen bisher keine wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse über die Wirksamkeit vor, und warum wurden diese Maßnahmen trotzdem ergriffen (bitte jeweils einzeln auflisten)?
3. Was unternimmt die Bundesregierung, um die Wirksamkeit der einzelnen Schutzmaßnahmen zu evaluieren und zu untersuchen?
Die genaue Auswirkung einzelner Maßnahmen auf das Infektionsgeschehen ist immer abhängig von vielen Faktoren, wie z.B. der Bevölkerungsstruktur, dem politischem System, den sozialen, ökonomischen und auch kulturellen Aspekten, die miteinander sowie mit anderen Faktoren wie der Saisonalität und der möglichen Entwicklung des Erregers interagieren. Durch dieses kontextspezifische Zusammenspiel einer sehr großen Anzahl an Variablen ist es nicht möglich, die Auswirkung einer einzelnen Maßnahme auf einen Indikator (z. B. Inzidenz) belastbar und generalisierbar zu quantifizieren und zwischen Ländern zu vergleichen. Die multifaktoriellen Zusammenhänge sind auch eine mögliche Erklärung für die Variationen in der Effektivität einzelner Maßnahmen zwischen unterschiedlichen Regionen oder Ländern. Vergleichende Fallstudien betonen vielmehr die Effektivität von sich verstärkenden Maßnahmen. Die Evidenz zeigt klar, dass es immer die Umsetzung mehrere gleichzeitiger Maßnahmen ist, die den Pandemieverlauf beeinträchtigen, also die Summe der Schutzmaßnahmen, die einen Rückgang von Infektionen herbeiführen.

- - -

TLDR; Measures are needed, but we can't tell you which, but there's evidence, but we won't show you and have no real interest in finding it ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

[1] https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/19/317/1931798.pdf

anramon• 5 years ago

Ok, i'm convinced, hope we start sending unvaccinated people to gulags as soon as posible.

DyslexicAtheist4• 5 years ago

I guess this post got autobanned because it points to a non English source. Sorry about that. Here is a repost that points to politico: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29275773

66fm472tjy7• 5 years ago

I would have preferred giving lower priority in hospitals to voluntarily unvaccinated persons seeking COVID treatment. That would require no violation of personal freedoms and avoid the great economic cost of implementing a lockdown at the start of the touristic winter season at the cost of letting these people suffer the consequences of their belief that the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease.

soco7• 5 years ago

A blanket measure (mandate something for all) is always easier to rationalize than a targeted measure (in this case, denying a person hospital admission). So while some politicians will agree with your spirit, they won't be thrilled to implement it.

niklasbuschmann• 5 years ago

Ethics aside, any law determining the priority of hospital admissions based on non-medical reasons is unconstitutional in Germany, according to legal experts. I doubt the situation differs much in Austria.

But I agree, this might be the most freedom-preserving path.

summerlight• 5 years ago

any law determining the priority of hospital admissions based on non-medical reasons is unconstitutional in Germany

Isn't vaccination status a medical reason? In fact, triage based on vaccination status is seriously discussed in many hospitals. It's because we don't have many effective treatments for COVID-19 patients other than simple symptomatic therapy (yet) and vaccinated covid-19 patients have a much higher chance to be recovered from ICU, and generally within a shorter period.

sleavey• 5 years ago

While we're at it, let's give lower priority to obese, smokers, alcoholics... or let's not. It's a slippery slope to start discriminating against people based on whether the admitting staff think they're worthy of treatment or not. We're better than that.

spants• 5 years ago

Gibraltar has 100% Covid Vaccination with 5th Highest Covid Mortality Rate in the World

Maf1• 5 years ago

Gibraltar surge in covid cases and is cancelling lots of events, but has 100% vaccination rate. No stopping restrictions and cases even with 100% vaccination rate.

elmotri• 5 years ago

Where do you get the information from that they are cancelling lots of events? As far as I can tell they are only giving out guidelines how you should behave if you want to have a party but no rules that prevent any event[0]. Also they only cancelled official events meaning events organized by the government: "Given the exponential rise in the number of cases, the Government, for example, intends to cancel a number of its own functions including official Christmas parties, official receptions and similar gatherings." from [1]

[0] https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/press-releases/public-health-gu...

[1] https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/press-releases/rise-in-active-c...

tzs3• 5 years ago

They have had very little mortality since vaccination [1].

https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-m...

alpanka• 5 years ago

98 deaths for a place full of old tourists and retired British couples sounds pretty good to me.

That's is 98 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

ifyoubuildit• 5 years ago

With all of the previous reporting on Austria's "lockdown of the unvaccinated", it was usually quietly left out that it was a lockdown of the unvaccinated AND never infected. (https://www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/coronavirus-in...). Does anyone know if that's the case here as well?

This is still scary, but what's more scary to me is other western countries who willfully ignore immunity from recovery taking this as inspiration.

sleepysysadmin• 5 years ago

Boy this slope is getting slippery.

Did you hear about new black trump virus? It's only killing black people, and named to mock Donald. It might have come from a lab but we won't be allowed to discuss that.

We immediately need a complete lockdown of all black people. Let's start with 2 weeks... also we have a 'vaccine' which comes with lots of asterisks. We had only 1 case, but this 'vaccine' might sterilize all black men.

Dont worry, we have done mandatory vaccinations before. It's safe, it's not like tuskegee again. No need for ethics evaluations.

guilhas• 5 years ago

Austrians can now apply as refugees for other countries?

Austria makes Covid19 vaccination mandatory as of Feb 2022

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