by Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse
History rhymes, with Austria as the center of where the worst of bad things originate.
Earlier today the lower house of Parliament voted 137 to 33 passing a law mandating COVID vaccinations for all adults 18 and older.
VIENNA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Austria’s lower house of parliament passed a bill on Thursday making COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for adults as of Feb. 1, bringing Austria closer to introducing the first such sweeping coronavirus vaccine mandate in the European Union.
Faced with a stubbornly high number of vaccine holdouts and a surge in infections, the government said in November it was planning the mandate. Since then, it has raised the age as of which the mandate will apply, to 18 from 14.
The bill must now pass the upper house and be signed by President Alexander Van der Bellen, steps which will be largely formalities.
Roughly 72% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. After a fourth national lockdown ended last month, the extremely contagious Omicron variant has pushed infections to record levels but the government wants to avoid another lockdown.
[…] The bill imposes fines of up to 600 euros ($680) on holdouts once checks begin on March 15. Those who challenge that initial fine unsuccessfully face a maximum fine of 3,600 euros. (read more)