COVID-19 in Europe: Austria vaccine mandate comes into force
Austria has become the first country in Europe to introduce a national COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults.
From Tuesday, all citizens aged 18 and over will need to be fully vaccinated against the virus or face fines of up to €3,600.
Pregnant women and people who for medical reasons can't be vaccinated will be exempted, as will people who have recovered from infection in the past six months.
The EU member state also plans to loosen coronavirus restrictions, with restaurants allowed to remain open until midnight on Saturday.
Meanwhile, unvaccinated citizens will no longer be barred from entering shops and restaurants in a phasing out of anti-COVID measures later this month.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer also announced on Saturday that lockdown restrictions for vaccinated people, which have been in place since November, will end on Monday.
The changes come despite record-high new infection numbers in recent days, fuelled by the omicron variant. But Nehammer said the low rate of hospitalisations means additional steps forward are possible.
Neighbouring Germany is also currently debating a possible wide-ranging coronavirus vaccine mandate.
On Monday, the government confirmed that it was set to miss a target of giving at least one shot of coronavirus vaccine to 80% of the population by the end of January.
Official statistics show that 75.8% of Germany’s population have received at least one shot, while 74% are fully vaccinated and 52.8% have also received a booster.
The target “has been missed,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit acknowledged at a regular news conference.
While the number of people getting boosters has risen quickly, the proportion of the population getting a first shot has only crept higher in recent weeks.
Chancellor
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