The federal government and the state-wide Covid crisis coordination (GECKO) have announced a joint press conference for the late morning. The topic is the “current developments of the corona measures”. A decision on a possible extension of the validity of the vaccination certificates is expected.
On February 1, the validity of the coronavirus vaccination will be reduced from nine to six months after the second stitch. From today’s perspective, this still affects 323,621 people who have not yet received a booster and will therefore no longer have a valid 2-G certificate from Tuesday. However, the deadline may be postponed or a transitional period introduced.
Recently, there has been increasing criticism of the expiry of the certificates. The shortening of the “Green Passport” after two vaccinations is to come into force in four days.
No result yesterday
GECKO met yesterday afternoon to deal with the postponement of the deadline. “There are no results to report today,” said the Ministry of Health to the APA in the evening.
This measure was communicated for the first time in November 2021. However, not everyone affected may have noticed that. The ministry pointed out that, among other things, the people affected in the app were informed about the change by means of push notifications – but those who deactivated push notifications did not receive this message.
Nehammer: “Still turning screws”
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said that the problem was known and that the responsible Minister of Health, Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens), was currently working on a solution. “I am in favor of making it work and what it takes to make it work must be done. But I’m not getting directly involved in the health minister’s agenda,” said Nehammer.
If it is necessary, one can “still turn screws”, whether there will be a postponement is currently being negotiated. “But we absolutely have to uphold the principle behind it,” said Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens).