Vienna, Jan 20, (dpa/GNA) – Ahead of Thursday’s planned vote in the Austrian parliament on plans to make vaccination against the coronavirus compulsory, the country’s conservative-green coalition government has announced a number of sweeteners to the legislative package.
A total of around 1 billion euros (1.1 billion dollars) is to be made available for a variety of schemes aimed at incentivizing and rewarding vaccinations. These include a lottery awarding 500 euros in vouchers valid in shops and restaurants to roughly every tenth person who gets jabbed.
To incentivize higher vaccination uptake, communities with a vaccination rate of 80 per cent will have 75 million euros distributed by the lottery, while a community with a 90 per cent rate will receive 300 million euros.
“I am really happy to be able to decide on the subject of incentives in parliament today in addition to the subject of compulsory vaccination,” said Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Thursday morning.
A clear majority is expected to support the legislation in parliament. The law would come into force at the beginning of February.
As well as the conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Greens, who together form Austria’s coalition government, many MPs from the opposition Social Democrats and the liberal NEOS also plan to support the bill.
The far-right Freedom Party of Austria has fiercely criticized the plan, however.
Compulsory vaccination is to apply to all adults in Austria, with exceptions planned for pregnant women and those unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons.
The Bundesrat, the upper house of the Austrian parliament, is expected to approve the law on February 3.
Nevertheless, the new law remains controversial and tens of thousands of people already regularly demonstrate against the government’s coronavirus measures and the prospect of compulsory vaccination.
Compulsory vaccination is expected to significantly reduce the impact of future coronavirus waves, and economically-ruinous lockdowns.
GNA