Compulsory vaccination ends in Austria
The Austrian government has decided to abolish the compulsory Covid-19 vaccination mandate that has been in place since February. The law and the associated penalties were never applied anyway. Does it make sense to rely on voluntary vaccination?
Plan missed the mark
The law has deepened social rifts, writes the Kleine Zeitung:
“After seven months, the controversial instrument has finally been classified as unsuitable. The realisation comes late; references to viral mutations fall short of the mark. ... The logic of punishment did not work. Playing groups off against each other - the good vaccinated on the one side, the unvaccinated dissenters on the other - may help to win elections. But if what you want is common-sense, solidarity-based action this has the opposite effect. And burying compulsory vaccination is also an admission: it did not make anyone get vaccinated who was not planning to do so anyway. On the contrary, it exacerbated divisions in society.”
Useful tool for the next wave squandered
The abolition of compulsory vaccination comes at the worst possible time, says Der Standard:
“The law should have been left in place. And for precisely the reason the government itself has been putting forward for months: because it's better to have a dormant law that you revive when needed than to waste months trying to reintroduce it. ... Compulsory vaccination could have saved lives if it had come in a timely, forceful manner. But the government allowed it to become a blunt instrument that cost time, money and social harmony. One might almost be glad that it is now being laid to rest. If the next wave were not imminent.”