Officially, Austria starts with a statutory vaccination requirement on February 1st, as it had been announced. In fact, this is likely to take a few more days, because after the National Council, the second chamber, the Federal Council, has to agree and the Federal President has to sign the law. But whether and when the compulsory vaccination formally comes into force in Austria is in fact completely irrelevant anyway.
Since the government announced the coercive measure in mid-January, it has done everything it can to undermine its own project, to soften it up and make it superfluous. The basic idea, which was pioneered throughout the EU, was a three-stage plan: a few weeks of information and warnings, a few weeks of random checks, then graduated administrative penalties for those who refuse vaccination. All this, with a few exceptions, for people over 18 years of age. The law was worded cautiously from the start, but it made it clear: In Austria you have to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
But that didn’t last long. Fear of popular anger won out – and pressure from the business lobby. First a long list of lock-in offers such as cash bonuses and vaccinations followed, then, just in time for the ski holidays, relaxation for tourism and gastronomy followed. With that, duty has become a farce. 3 G in the workplace is allowed anyway, 2 G in retail will end in a few days. The so-called lockdown for the unvaccinated is lifted. Soon you will be allowed to go back to restaurants and hotels with a negative test. The curfew will be pushed back. Different rules apply to foreign tourists than to Austrians. The message is clear: the law wasn’t meant that way anyway.
One reason for the retreat could now be seen in a local council election in Lower Austria: the powerful ÖVP fell by 20 points, a right-wing populist anti-vaccination party came up with 17 percent from a standing start.