Draft law for compulsory vaccination is due to come in early December

by time news

The federal government has presented the schedule for its law on the compulsory corona vaccination planned from February 2022: The draft should be available in the week of December 6th, which should enable a “proper assessment of at least four weeks”. According to the Ministry of Health in a statement on Saturday, the law could then come into force at the beginning of February following a resolution by the National Council and Federal Council. In addition, experts should be involved in advance.

Austria is one of the first countries that is actually implementing a general corona vaccination obligation, which is currently being discussed in many European countries. “This is a far-reaching measure and it is therefore extremely important to us to put this law on a broad basis and to involve as many different stakeholders as possible in the process,” said Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens). As a prelude, he and Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) invite you to a round table on November 30th with experts from science, constitutional law, health, the constitutional service, the bioethics commission and representatives of the SPÖ and NEOS. In the coming weeks, further discussions are to follow with experts from the medical field, for example, with interest groups such as the social partners and civil society organizations.

The incentive systems for the corona vaccination would have an effect, according to Mückstein. In the meantime, 70 percent of the total population are at least partially immunized and two thirds have sufficient vaccination protection to be protected from severe courses. “From an epidemiological point of view, however, we know that this is not enough. We have to do everything possible to protect ourselves against impending waves of infections as well as possible.” In any case, a solid legal basis is necessary for the announced mandatory vaccination, stressed Edtstadler. “The introduction of the general compulsory vaccination encroaches on fundamental rights, but is a necessary and justified step in view of the dramatic situation.”

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