Schützenhöfer: Austria never gets out of the …
The Styrian governor is apparently in favor of a nationwide vaccination requirement. Legal experts see this as proportionate.
The Styrian governor Hermann Schützenhöfer (ÖVP) apparently wants to campaign for a nationwide vaccination requirement at the governor’s conference in Tyrol, where advice on how to proceed in terms of corona measures is being discussed. According to information from the “Kleine Zeitung”, Schützenhöfer is said to have pushed for such a thing in internal preliminary talks. The Styrian Economic and Tourism Councilor Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (ÖVP) confirmed this on Thursday on the sidelines of an event in Graz.
Schützenhöfer had led to the meeting that otherwise Austria would “never get out of the lockdown spiral”. The Styrian regional chief’s enthusiasm for a nationwide lockdown was rather limited, it said.
Is vaccination compulsory before the VfGH?
Schützenhöfer is backed by legal experts. A general compulsory vaccination is possible from a constitutional point of view, the only question is whether it is proportionate in the specific case. For example, constitutional lawyer Bernd-Christian Funk saw proportionality as given in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal”: As things develop, the “threshold of proportionality” has been reached, according to Funk.
Karl Stöger from the University of Vienna also sees “good chances” that such an obligation will stop before the Constitutional Court (VfGH). Similarly, Peter Bußjäger from the University of Innsbruck: Although the compulsory vaccination for the current wave comes quite late, this measure seems to him as a precaution for coming waves “proportionate”.
Griss emphasizes the citizens’ “responsibility”
The former Neos politician and highest judge Irmgard Griss also spoke out in favor of compulsory vaccination for everyone. In an interview with Ö1, she said in an interview with Ö1, “it must be made clear to the last person” that he as a citizen has “a responsibility, not just rights”. This responsibility is concretized in duties, and one duty that is now important is the compulsory vaccination.
“I think it is absolutely irresponsible that the inability of our society, our government is dumped on the back of the children,” she criticized the government. Because dying children would be harmed for their whole life. “And so I think we need this emergency braking now, which nobody wants. I don’t want it either – but that’s how it is, ”said Griss. The emergency stop includes not only the general compulsory vaccination, but also a lockdown for everyone, as is currently the case for all of Austria.
The Viennese patient advocate Sigrid also calls for a combination of lockdown and mandatory vaccination. “Compulsory vaccination and lockdown for everyone is the order of the day,” she wrote on Twitter.
Return calls for mandatory vaccination for teaching staff
Vienna’s Vice Mayor and City Councilor for Education Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) spoke out on Thursday in favor of compulsory Covid vaccination for teachers. The development of the number of infections is very serious and also affects schools, he emphasized. Compulsory vaccination for teaching staff is a measure to prevent schools from closing. What is required is the federal government, which has to regulate death through service law.
“We have reached a phase of the pandemic where we have to stay fast and act specifically and prevent young people, as we saw them in the earlier lockdowns,” emphasized the Vienna head of department.
(APA / Red.)