How the Ministry of Health is preparing for the infection process in the coming autumn. The introduction of compulsory vaccination is not one of them.
Wien. “We will not make the same mistakes once more in the third summer,” says Health Minister John Rauch (Green). This time, the Ministry of Health wants to be prepared for a possible further wave of the pandemic. The possible scenarios were worked out for this, and suitable measures are prepared for each scenario. Rauch does not want to publish the latter yet, they will first be submitted to the Gecko Commission.
The four scenarios are known for this: Scenario one would be the “ideal case”, Covid would reach an extent that is comparable to other infectious diseases, there would only be a small extent of serious illnesses. Scenario two (“favourable case”) describes the current status: there is a wave of infection, but severe courses remain limited to vulnerable groups. Scenario three (“worse case”) assumes new virus variants that lead to an increase in serious illnesses and hospitalizations. Scenario four (“worst case”) assumes that new variants will emerge that are as infectious as omicron and at the same time cause the disease progression as severe as delta. This would once more lead to severe restrictions in public life.
New vaccination campaign
Incidentally, the introduction of compulsory vaccination will not be one of the proposed measures in any of the variants, i.e. not in the “worst case” either. According to the minister, the decision on compulsory vaccination will be taken by the commission provided for in the law. However, he does want to start a vaccination campaign so that there are many booster vaccinations in August and September.
