What’s next for the Green passport and the 4th vaccination

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The Austrian government announced Thursday that mandatory vaccination is now history. What’s next for the green passport and the 4th prick?

Compulsory vaccination in Austria is history: health minister Johannes Rauch and ÖVP club leader August Wöginger officially announced the end on Thursday. “Compulsory vaccination was introduced under different conditions than how we have it today. With Delta, we had a variant with 60 percent more hospitalizations. Austria was then in November on the verge of a lockdown,” said Health Minister Johannes Rauch, explaining a changed overall situation as the reason for the measures now presented.

At the same time, the Corona quarantine is likely to come to an end. Minister Rauch explained that all countries went into a setting called “Living with Covid.” As a back door, he left himself open to initiate “robust measures” again if the further course of infection demanded that.

So what’s next for vaccination? Because even if the government gives a basket to the vaccination obligation, Rauch promoted the vaccination on Thursday. The fourth prick is recommended for over 80-year-olds and people 65 with pre-existing conditions. Next week, it will be re-evaluated whether a fourth vaccination also makes sense for other groups of people, and if so, from when.

However, the mandatory vaccination presented on Thursday will not immediately impact Green Passport, which is currently still in force, Rauch said. Here, too, there are talks at the European level – this question is exciting, especially with regard to travel regulations. “But the green passport is still in place at the moment, and it is valid as it is.” The Green Passport will only be tackled in a “next phase” when new rules are then in force, for example also with regard to quarantine regulations.