Decision comes four months after introduction of controversial vaccine mandate that was never enforced
Austria is scrapping its vaccine mandate, four months after it became the first EU countryThe controversial law was introduced amid great international interest in February but never enforced. It has beenAustria’s health minister, Johannes Rauch, said he had seen the need for mandatory vaccinations when the Delta variant had dominated in the country.
“The vaccine mandate won’t convince anyone to get vaccinated”, he said, pointing to studies showing that those already sceptical of vaccines had not been swayed by the threat of fines. “The vaccine mandate and the debate around the vaccine mandate have opened up deep rifts in Austria’s society,” Rauch said. At a time in which the Ukraine war, rising household costs and the energy crisis were putting further strain on social cohesion “every millimetre [of] solidarity and togetherness” was required.
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