Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) assumes that Christmas 2022 will still be characterized by caution with regard to Corona. “I believe that we will have to continue protecting the elderly and sick people next Christmas,” he said in an interview with APA. The way out of the crisis is not contamination, but vaccination. The mandatory vaccination will come as planned in February, but the lockdown for unvaccinated people will not end automatically.
The “first major goal” – in addition to maintaining the critical infrastructure – is now to prevent a general lockdown, the minister repeated the already outlined timetable. The current Omikron variant has two strategies: “Containment, lockdown – using the example of Holland.” And there is an example – England – “which actually lets it more or less rustle through,” said the minister. “We don’t go either way.”
Austria, on the other hand, is going a way, “with a sense of proportion, where we have had very strict measures since December 12th. We have a lockdown for unvaccinated people, we have a 2G regulation that applies in most areas, we now have the FFP2- The obligation has also been extended to include outdoors – where the two-meter distance cannot be maintained. ” Mückstein also referred to the event restrictions, the curfew at 10 p.m. and the ban on night and standing restaurants. In addition, the validity of the Green Pass has now been shortened (to six months after the second partial vaccination).
Mückstein does not share criticism of the loosening of the quarantine regulations, with which the government wants to prevent failures in the critical infrastructure due to too many secretions. He also sees the measures taken as sufficient. The minister points out that in Austria there are much stricter rules than in other European countries. “We are taking a very safe path. Because the measures that we have in Austria are only just being considered in other countries.” In many other countries there is no 3G rule – “not to mention 2G”. “I think we are very strict with the measures compared to other European countries,” said Mückstein.
The minister currently does not see a lockdown as necessary: ”Holland has been in lockdown for three weeks – that would be a containment. This would allow the problem to be postponed in the current phase of the pandemic. And even there, the lockdown is not of any use to the extent that the numbers go down completely. That means, as soon as the lockdown is off, the numbers there will also increase. ” The aim in Austria is to flatten the wave so “that we don’t have any problems with medical care”.
And he also sees Austria as a trailblazer for the mandatory vaccination announced for February: “Italy is introducing mandatory vaccination for people over 50 years of age, which is currently being discussed in Germany.”
An infection – which, according to the chief health officer Katharina Reich in Austria, you will not be able to avoid unless you protect yourself with the vaccination, especially the triple vaccination – is not the way out of the pandemic for Mückstein: “We know that with the vaccination and with the recovery, the immune protection decreases over time. That means that (the infection, note) can not be the immediate solution now. “
He also referred to any other mutations that a previous infection may not protect against: “Who will protect us from getting a new variant in autumn that is ultimately even more contagious or makes the disease even more severe?” The prospect is “a high overall immunity in the population. And the most important means of getting there is vaccination,” said Mückstein.
The compulsory vaccination is therefore a medium-term measure on this path – even if it is now too late for the current fifth wave. “In my opinion, compulsory vaccinations are an important way of getting out of the crisis in the medium term. That is the big picture.” Once again he emphasized that he is sticking to the start date for this measure: “The vaccination will be compulsory from the beginning of February.” The announcement by ELGA GmbH on Friday will not change this, according to which a technical implementation of the recording of the exceptions in the national vaccination register will not be possible until April at the earliest.
According to Mückstein, the lockdown for unvaccinated people will not end automatically with the introduction of mandatory vaccination. “A lockdown can constitutionally only be justified with the impending collapse of medical care. As long as this threat is real, the lockdown for the unvaccinated will continue,” he clarified.
One thing is certain for Mückstein that caution will still be necessary in the coming winter. “The test before I go to the 80-year-old grandmother will also make sense,” he emphasized. When asked whether he, like the virologist Dorothee Van Laer, considers it realistic that the mask will not be needed until 2024, Mückstein said that he “could not predict”. “But it will still be smart in 2025 to put on a mask during the infection period from October and November.” Because again this winter there was no notable wave of influenza. “And the masks also protect against common flu-like infections – and not only very well against the corona virus,” said the minister.
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