IIn Austria the number of corona vaccinations has plummeted. According to the authorities, the seven-day average has now dropped to 36,000 a day. A month ago, the weekly average was around 110,000 vaccinations per day. Furthermore, it is mostly a booster vaccination, only about ten percent of the injections are first sticks. The Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) is now open to vaccination premiums.
Anything that helps to get more people to vaccinate before the mandatory vaccination comes into effect is “a positive signal,” Nehammer told the Austrian news agency APA on Wednesday. Most recently, the social democratic opposition party SPÖ demanded a 500 euro voucher for everyone who contributed to a higher vaccination rate with the third trick. It is currently just under 71 percent.
He considers it a “very good approach” to motivate vaccination in a positive way – “at what level and in what form, the experts should think about it,” said Nehammer.
Meanwhile, the Austrian authorities fear that the mandatory vaccination planned from February will further drive radicalization among Corona skeptics. A “radical individualism” is spreading, which is noticeable on social media in uninhibited language, said the head of the State Security and Intelligence Service (DSN), Omar Haijawi-Pirchner. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) is particularly concerned about the safety of the medical staff, who are increasingly exposed to intimidation and abuse.
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