Germany plans to adopt the Austrian model of obligatory Covid jabs amid growing infections throughout Europe and worries about an Omicron variant.
Olaf Scholz, who will take over as German chancellor next week, is in favour of mandatory jabs and also wants to ban the unvaccinated from non-essential stores, sources said.
He is hopeful that the steps will be implemented by February end and met today with Angela Merkel, outgoing chancellor to talk about how to address the fourth wave.
Germany’s incoming chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured last week) is set to follow Austria by making Covid jabs compulsory
Austria is a neighboring country that, like Germany, has an extremely low level of vaccination. This month, however, the Austrian government announced plans to mandate vaccines starting in February.
Scholz supports the idea of requiring that customers shopping in non-essential shops show proof of their recovery and vaccinations.
Meanwhile in Greece, anyone over the age of 60 that refuses to get a Covid jab will be fined £85 a month as the country prepares to launch their own vaccine mandate.
As he is facing mounting pressure to tighten restrictions on Covid-19, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Greece, stated today that coronavirus vaccinations will be mandatory for all over 60-year-olds.
He said that the measure must still be submitted to a vote in parliament, though it is widely believed that lawmakers will approve.
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (pictured) today said that coronavirus vaccines would be compulsory for anyone over the age of 60 – and that those who refuse will be handed £85 fines each month
Mitsotakis reported that over 500,000 Greeks older than 60 years were not vaccinated.
Those still refusing to do so will face a monthly fine of 100 euros (£85), he added.
Mitsotakis declared, “This protection is not punishment.”
The answer is not in a lockdown, vaccines, social distancing and testing ‘are the way forward,’
Experts in health have resisted the call for extra safeguards and mobility restrictions from the government, even for those who were vaccinated before Christmas.
Over 18,000 people have died from the virus in Greece since November.
Mitsotakis says that over 500,000 Greeks older than 60 years old refuse to have their vaccines. Pictured: People queue in Aristotelous Square, Thessaloniki, on November 26, 2021, to receive their jab
Austria, which sought to end a severe epidemic of infectious diseases in its wake, was the first nation to enforce a Covid vaccine requirement.
Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Health Minister Wolfgang Muckstein announced that anyone who is not vaccinated against Covid will be penalised – with Mr Schallenberg saying the punishment would likely be a non-criminal fine, though added the details are still being worked out.
Mr Muckstein said that constitutional lawyers were consulted ahead of the announcement and said it appears the mandate would be legal, though a ‘proper review process’ will take place over the next several months.
After the review has been completed, the law will come into effect. The deadline is February 1, ‘at latest’.
This is after Austria issued its own vaccination mandate earlier in the month. Pictured: On November 19, 2021, police officers checked the vaccination status during a Vienna Christmas market patrol.
Austria is currently home to one of the highest Covid infections rates in Europe. Its slow vaccination campaign and 66% of its population being fully jabbed has led to this high rate.
This is higher than the European average at 62 percent, but still lower than the theoretically required 70 percent for herd immunity.
Austria wasn’t the first to mandate vaccines. In February Indonesia made it mandatory for all citizens to be jabbed. Then came the dictatorships of Turkmenistan in March and Tajikistan July.
A number of countries also require jabs to be administered. Joe Biden mandates that workers of any US business with more than 100 people get their jabs or undergo a test every week.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute was able to report that only 452.2 of 100,000 people had been infected over the week. That is slightly less than Monday’s 452.4.
It marked the beginning of November’s first drop.
However, Tuesday’s number of daily new cases increased slightly compared with last week, to 45.753, while another 388 deaths occurred – the most daily figures since March. The overall death count climbed to 101 344.