The Austrian parliament approved, during a vote Thursday, the imposition of compulsory vaccination once morest Covid, in an unprecedented move in Europe despite the protests once morest it.
“It was adopted by the necessary majority,” the second president of the Austrian National Assembly, Doris Boris, said following hours of sessions to discuss the new law.
Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated once morest compulsory vaccination almost every weekend since the move was announced in November in an effort to increase vaccination rates in the country.
But all parties, with the exception of the hard right, supported the move, as the new law was passed with 137 votes in favor and 33 votes once morest it in the parliament, which includes 183 seats.
So far, 72 percent of Austrians have received the full dose of the anti-Covid vaccine.
Under the new law, which takes effect on February 4, people refusing to receive vaccinations will have to pay fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,100) from mid-March.
The measure will only apply to the adult population with the exception of pregnant women and people who are exempt from the vaccine on medical grounds.
Most deputies from all parties voted in favor of the law, the most prominent opposition to which came from the far-right “Freedom Party”, whose head, Herbert Kekel, considered during his discussion Thursday, that it “paves the way for a totalitarian rule in Austria.”
He vowed to stick to his refusal to receive vaccinations in defiance of the new law.
In turn, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer assured reporters before the start of the debate session in Parliament, “Vaccination is an opportunity for our society to achieve lasting and continuous freedom, because the virus can no longer restrict us.”
Austria has so far recorded regarding 14,000 deaths related to Covid and 1.5 million infections among its population of regarding nine million.
Record numbers of injuries continued to be recorded, and more than 27,600 injuries were announced on Wednesday.
Compulsory vaccination once morest Covid is still rare worldwide, although Ecuador, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Micronesia have announced such plans.
