UPDATE: Compulsory vaccination to enter into force on 5 February 2022

Feb 4, 2022 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The National Council (Nationalrat) has decided to make vaccination against COVID-19 compulsory. It is to come into force on February 5, 2022. A few changes have been made to the first draft. In principle, persons covered by the Act must have a valid vaccination status against COVID-19 by 15 March 2022.

All adults who have a residence or a confirmation of their main place of residence in Austria are subject to compulsory vaccination (Section 1 para 1 COVID-19- Mandatory Vaccination Act (Impfpflichtgesetz) - COVID-19-IG).

Excluded are (Sec. 3):

• Pregnant women (according to the explanations, however, vaccination is explicitly recommended for pregnant women from the second trimester of pregnancy. The exception stems from the fact that possible complications in the first, more sensitive trimester of pregnancy should not be attributed to COVID-19 vaccination).
• Persons in whom no immune response is to be expected for medical reasons
• Persons who have not received an immune response even after repeated vaccination
• Persons who cannot be vaccinated without risk to life or health
• COVID-19 recoveries up to 180 days after the test was taken

Exemptions must be confirmed by a public health officer or an epidemiological doctor and recorded in the central vaccination register.

The vaccination obligation comprises an initial vaccination and a number of subsequent vaccinations specified by regulation (Sec. 4 para 2 and 4).

Compared to the first draft, there are mainly changes in the procedure. The law no longer provides for a fixed deadline for the reminder letter (Sec. 8). The Minister of Health now has the power to set this date by regulation. On the deadline date, the persons required to be vaccinated are determined by comparing the central population register with the central vaccination register. Afterwards, a reminder letter will be sent to unvaccinated persons.

Anyone who has not been vaccinated after March 15, 2022 commits an administrative offence punishable by up to EUR 3,600 (Sec. 10 para 1). However, for the time being, the vaccination obligation will only be controlled by the police within the framework of general checks on persons (Sec. 15).

The originally planned automated criminal proceedings, in which persons subject to compulsory vaccination are identified through a comparison with the population register and the vaccination register, will only take place after a corresponding regulation by the federal government (Sec. 9). This is only permissible if it is necessary to ensure compulsory vaccination.

Substitute imprisonment and physical coercion are not foreseen.

2173/A XXVII. GP (09.12.2021)