Austria has become the first European country to mandate coronavirus vaccination for all adults. It is also the first country that will now have to enforce a vaccination mandate. Starting next month, Austrian police will carry out random spot-checks to see whether people can produce proof of vaccination. Those who can't face fines of 600 euros or more.
Vienna set up mobile vaccination buses to increase that number. The willingness to get a jab is stagnant, despite the new bill.
Even before the controversial bill was passed, security was tight at vaccination centers.
No other topic polarizes Austrians as much as mandatory vaccination. Those who administer the vaccines can do so only when security is nearby. There is concern about hostile outbursts by anti-vaxxers.
Tens of thousands of them have been taking to the streets almost every weekend across the country to protest against COVID measures. They are a minority.
But Werner Reisinger, who is researching radicalism, says, the protests should not be underestimated.
He says the Austrian government failed to reach this crowd, especially when its declaration last summer that the COVID crisis was over was followed by a political crisis of its own.
Austria expects an avalanche of lawsuits by those unwilling to pay possible fines starting at 600 euros and to be enforced from mid-March.
Vienna is focusing on those whose opinion could still be swayed: The undecided. The city put up billboards in various foreign languages in their latest effort to counter misinformation.


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