The entrance to the Redoutensaal in the Hofburg was cordoned off extensively by the police on Monday. The 40 or so people who came around 1:30 p.m. to demonstrate against compulsory vaccination in front of the parliamentary health committee had plenty of room on the remaining spot in front of the Kaiser Josef statue. 500 were registered.
In the meantime, things got down to business again in the Redoutensaal: all parliamentary groups had invited experts who made statements on the draft law and answered questions from the mandataries. Came for the FPÖ Michael Geistlinger, law professor from Salzburg. He took the position that the Covid-19 vaccines were not sufficiently tested and that the violation of fundamental rights – specifically Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention – was not justified.
Law is more of a “framework”
The other two lawyers in the room saw things very differently. So explained constitutional lawyers Konrad Lachmayer, loaded by the Neos: “Yes, the intervention weighs heavily, but the goal to be achieved, the relief of the health system, weighs heavier.”
Both Lachmayer and the civil lawyer Christiane Wendehorst praised the flexibility: The law is more of a “framework” that is designed with regulations. In this way, the government can always orient itself to the latest scientific findings. However, it depends all the more on the concrete handling whether the vaccination requirement is constitutional, emphasized Wendehorst, invited by the ÖVP.