Austria Becomes First Country in Europe to Make COVID Vaccine Mandatory

The Austrian government has reimposed a full national lockdown just days after the country ordered a targeted lockdown on the country’s unvaccinated population. 

As part of the new measures announced by Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, vaccination will become mandatory in law from February next year.

On Monday, roughly 2 million unvaccinated adults were told they must stay at home unless they’re buying food or medicines, going to work, or exercising. In response to the new measures, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of major cities across Austria last weekend in protest.

Read Next

Austria Imposes Lockdown for 2 Million Unvaccinated People

However, Schallenberg has decided that even more measures are required to combat rising infection rates in a country where 68 percent of adults are fully vaccinated. 

“We have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated,” Schallenberg said at a press conference. “It hurts that such measures still have to be taken.”

The national lockdown is currently scheduled to last at least ten days, but Schallenberg confirmed that it could be extended should infection rates continue to rise.