Covid-19: Austria has become the first European country to introduce the Covid-19 vaccine mandate. This happened after President Alexander Van der Bellen gave his assent to the law on Friday, Indian Express reported. The law was introduced in November last year, which will come into effect from Saturday, making it compulsory for adults to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. According to the government, the law will be applicable to all adults and has been brought to protect public health.
Vaccine mandate law
Austrian Parliament had passed the law in the Upper house with 47-12 majority, after which it got its approval by the Lower house as well. According this law, all adults have to get immunised with centrally approved and recognised vaccines. Everyone will be required to have an active vaccination status by March 15, 2022, post which the government would impose fines starting from 600 euros to up to 3,600 euros and can be imposed up to four times a year.
The law exempts pregnant women, those whose immune response to Covid-19 vaccination cannot be expected for medical reasons, people who cannot be vaccinated without a specific and serious risk to health, those who have not developed an immune response to the vaccination even after complete dosages, and those who have recovered from an infection (only for 180 days from the time the virus was detected).
Austria had imposed a lockdown in November for those who were unvaccinated and the police were conducting checks on commuters after the mandate was rolled out. Those found breaching the law had to pay fines of 500-3,600 euros.
According to Reuters, Austria has reported an average of over 30,000 fresh cases each day and the total number of Covid cases in the country stands at 1,995,346, while the death toll stands at 14,192.
According to the World Health Organisation, 17.4 lakh doses of Covid-19 have been administered till January 29 in Austria, which is about 68.8 per cent of the population.
