Austrian COVID vaccine mandate to remain suspended in summer

Associated Press
·1 min read

BERLIN (AP) — Austria's coronavirus vaccination mandate has been suspended for another three months until the end of August.

A parliamentary committee signed off Wednesday on an order from the health minister extending the suspension, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Officials said on Tuesday that the mandate for people aged 18 and over, which became law in early February but hasn't yet been put into effect, would remain suspended. They said a commission of experts had concluded that enforcing it currently would not be proportionate and therefore was unjustified.

The plan was first announced in November amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that sent Austria into a lockdown. However, by the time the legislation was in place, much of the sense of urgency had evaporated.

The plan was for police to start checking people’s vaccination status in mid-March, for example during traffic stops. But the government suspended the mandate only a week before its enforcement was due to begin, arguing that there was no need to implement it as things stood.

The legislation provides for people who can’t produce proof of vaccination to be asked in writing to do so and be fined up to 600 euros (around $650) if they don’t. Fines could reach 3,600 euros if people contest their punishment.

Austria was the first country in Europe to legislate for a universal vaccine mandate. Only neighboring Germany even considered emulating it, but its parliament last month shot down a proposal even for a mandate for people aged 60 and above.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Jeremy Clarkson hints there will be 'no happy ending' for Clarkson's Farm

    Jeremy Clarkson has confessed farming doesn't have "many happy endings" and it is "much harder" than it looks.

  • Ukrainian officials thank the US for its latest military aid to help stop Russia's onslaught

    Ukrainian officials on Wednesday expressed thanks for a fresh batch of U.S. military aid that threw Kyiv’s armed forces a lifeline in their more than two-year war with Russia, even though the vital new supplies aren’t expected to have an immediate impact on the battlefield. Ukrainian troops have faced acute shortages of shells and air defense systems as political quarrels in Washington held up the aid for months, allowing the Kremlin’s forces to edge forward in some parts of eastern Ukraine by sheer weight of troop numbers and firepower in what has largely become a war of attrition. The U.S. decision came as the Kremlin’s army extended its bombardment of the Kharkiv region and Ukrainian long-range drones struck more fuel and energy facilities inside Russia.

  • Turner Prize 2024: Artist whose work features Ford Escort in a giant doily and Irn Bru among shortlist

    The shortlist for 2024's Turner Prize has been announced, with three of the four artists in the running for the prestigious £25,000 prize from London

  • New FAFSA rules opened up a 'grandparent loophole' that boosts 529 plans

    New FAFSA created the "grandparent loophole" allowing nonparents to use 529s to help pay for school without hurting a student's financial aid chances.

  • GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares jump on tech boost; fragile yen on intervention watch

    World stocks rose on Wednesday led by tech names as investors' focus shifts to earnings from U.S. megacap bellwethers this week, while the yen remained mired near 34-year lows, keeping traders wary of intervention from Japanese authorities. An after-hours surge in shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, following its promise of new models, and upbeat earnings from some U.S. companies lifted sentiment, spurring a rally in tech stocks in Asia, where the sector rose 3.7% and Europe, where it gained 2.5%. Europe's broad STOXX 600 was 0.2% higher, as that rally in tech stocks - also helped by a 10% surge in wafer maker ASM International on raised revenue forecasts - met soft earnings from drugmaker Roche and luxury goods maker Kering, whose shares fell to their lowest since 2017.

  • Nick Robinson Has Launched A Less-Than-Subtle Attack On GB News

    The Today programme host has a few things to say about Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg too.

  • Mauricio Pochettino calls on Chelsea owners to make ruthless decisions

    The Blues boss has questioned the club’s strategy for the first time

  • Police Rush 2-Year-Old Choking on Food to Hospital

    Police in the city of Cordoba, in northern Argentina, rushed a two-year-old to a hospital as he was choking on food, footage released on April 19 shows.According to the police, the incident occurred in the General Paz neighborhood, where the two-year-old “choked on food, obstructing his airway” while in daycare.The police said that the child was stable after being transported to a Children’s Hospital.Footage released by the Cordoba Police shows officers rushing to the scene and taking the child into the car, transporting him to the hospital. Credit: Cordoba Police via Storyful

  • Ceiling collapses during bathroom renovation

    This is the moment a plasterer helping renovate a room realizes its old ceiling was never fixed up properly and tells the homeowner it's about to come down in the UK on March 19. The man was uninjured.

  • Two horses on the loose in central London

    Two loose horses have been seen running around central London, one of which appeared to be covered in blood. The animals, wearing saddles and bridles, were seen running in the road near Aldwych on Wednesday morning.

  • 'She Said Yes': Timelapse Captures Couple's Engagement During Aurora

    A couple in Alberta, Canada, filmed themselves as they got engaged under the glow of an aurora on Sunday, April 21.Footage captured by photographer Siv Heang Tav shows a timelapse of an aurora in Red Rock Coulee, southeastern Alberta, Canada, in the early hours of Sunday, during which she and her partner get engaged.“She said yes,” Heang said. Credit: Siv Heang Tav via Storyful

  • Kyle Rittenhouse, deadly shooter, college speaker? A campus gun-rights tour sparks outrage

    Kyle Rittenhouse, acquitted after fatally shooting two men at a 2020 protest, is telling college students they need to arm themselves on campus.

  • Australian counter terrorism force arrests seven teenagers after Sydney bishop stabbing

    An Australian counter terrorism team arrested seven teenagers on Wednesday linked to a boy charged with a religiously-motivated terror attack on a Sydney bishop and questioned another five people. Police said a team of more than 400 police and security personnel were involved in the operation, which arrested associates of a 16-year-old boy charged with a terrorism offence for the knifing of Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a live-streamed church service on April 15. Police said they took the teens into custody because they posed an "unacceptable risk" to society.

  • Public sector pensions should be cut, says former head of civil service

    There should be “more pay less pension” in the public sector, the former head of the civil service has said.

  • Q1 2024 Freeport-McMoRan Inc Earnings Call

    Q1 2024 Freeport-McMoRan Inc Earnings Call

  • Donald Trump's supporters aren't flocking to his hush money trial. He's still campaigning from the courthouse

    Donald Trump's supporters aren't exactly flocking to New York City to protest his hush money trial.

  • Blood-soaked Household Cavalry horses loose in central London injuring people and hitting cars

    The horses are said to have become spooked during a training exercise with a soldier injured

  • Fast-food businesses hiking prices because of higher minimum wage sound like Gordon Gekko

    Conservative economists have long warned against raising the minimum wage. California just proved that 'greed works,' as Gordon Gekko said.

  • About 3.6 million Medicare beneficiaries could be eligible for Wegovy coverage, study shows

    Wegovy was approved by the U.S. health regulator last month for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes. The additional approval would expand Medicare coverage for Wegovy and coverage by other insurers for such adults with heart conditions.

  • TikTok ban bill passes US Senate, what happens next?

    The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed legislation giving TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, about nine months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, or face a nationwide ban. President Joe Biden said he will to sign the bill into law on Wednesday. Here is what will likely happen next for TikTok. TikTik clock startsOnce Biden signs the bill, a 270-day clock starts during which ByteDance must sell TikTok. If it looks like ByteDance is close to divestment near the end of the nine-month perio