Austria imposes lockdown, issues vaccine mandate
Austria will go into a nationwide lockdown Monday and impose a coronavirus vaccination mandate in February, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said Friday.
It is the second such lockdown in a European nation since the spring after Latvia imposed similar restrictions last month, and the first national vaccine mandate to be announced in a Western democracy.
Austria has one of Europe’s highest infection rates and one of the lowest vaccination rates, with just 66% of the population fully inoculated.
Recent restrictions on unvaccinated people have failed to bring the outbreak sufficiently under control, leading to the new measures.
“For a long time — maybe too long — I and others assumed that it must be possible to convince people in Austria to voluntarily get vaccinated,” Schallenberg said. “We therefore have reached a very difficult decision to introduce a national vaccine mandate.”
The lockdown, reminiscent of those imposed across Europe last winter, will last for at least 10 days and affect both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Schools, where students are tested regularly, will remain open, as will grocery stores.
“We have 21 months of the pandemic behind us, and we know we can only end this when we vaccinate enough people,” Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said, adding that the lead-time of several months was needed to prepare for the mandate.
In a sign of soaring worry over the fourth wave, Austria just days ago went a step further than most countries by announcing a lockdown on unvaccinated people. That will remain in place after the full lockdown expires, Schallenberg said.
A handful of countries in Asia have imposed mandatory vaccinations against coronavirus for their adult populations, including Indonesia and Turkmenistan.