After the round table with the “inventory” of the corona situation on Monday, the next pandemic summit will follow on Tuesday morning. Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) and Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) invited a broad group of people to the Chancellery to discuss the planned mandatory vaccination. In the afternoon, the current lockdown in the main committee will be extended to December 11th as planned – and the shop opening time will be shortened to 7 p.m.
The federal government already presented a schedule for the law on corona vaccination at the weekend. The draft should therefore be ready in the week of December 6th. After a “proper assessment of at least four weeks”, the law could then come into force at the beginning of February, as decided by the National Council and the Federal Council. It was also announced that experts would be involved in advance. A first round table on this will take place on Tuesday from 9.00 a.m. in the Chancellery.
The basis for discussion could be a “rough draft” published by the “press” – which, according to the Chancellery broadcast, is, however, “not a draft of the federal government”. This provides for a fine of up to 7,200 euros or six weeks of substitute imprisonment if a person residing or habitually residing in Austria fails to comply with two official requests for vaccination. For the first violation, a fine of 3,600 euros or a four-week substitute imprisonment is provided; for the third violation, it is doubled to 7,200 euros.
According to the Federal Chancellery, these are the main open questions to be discussed with experts from science, constitutional law, health, the constitutional service, the bioethics commission and representatives of the SPÖ and NEOS. In addition to SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner, NEOS chairwoman Beate Meinl-Reisinger is also expected. On the expert side, for example, the infectiologist Christoph Wenisch is on board, as are the head of the National Vaccination Committee (NIG), Ursula Wiedermann-Schmidt, and the head of the bioethics committee Christiane Druml. The FPÖ, which categorically rejects compulsory vaccination, is not invited. The Freedom Party was not very surprised – chairman Herbert Kickl, for his part, announced a press conference entitled “Current developments in corona policy” parallel to the round table.
The main committee of the National Council meets at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. There – due to the ten-day limit on exit restrictions – the necessary parliamentary approval is obtained so that the current lockdown applies as planned until December 11th. In addition, the amendment brings a slight tightening: The shops currently open for the basic supply must close at 7 p.m. on Thursday, as in previous lockdowns.