1.3 million Neither vaccinated nor recovered
52.3 percent of people living in Austria had a valid vaccination certificate at the end of March without being infected with the corona virus. Another 17.2 had been vaccinated, but were also infected with SARS-CoV.
The vaccination rate was 69.5 percent. In contrast, 15.7 percent of those who had recovered were unvaccinated – and 14.7 percent or around 1.32 million people were neither vaccinated nor recovered, according to Statistics Austria.
Omicron Wave: Many infections, many recovered
The proportion of those who had a valid vaccination or recovery certificate has increased by around three percentage points since the end of February. According to Statistics Austria, the main reason for this was that in March it was mainly people who had not been vaccinated who became infected, which led to an increase in recovery certificates during the Omicron wave.
The proportion of people with an up-to-date vaccination certificate, on the other hand, even fell by 0.6 percentage points from the end of February to the end of March, as more vaccination certificates expired than were added.
“This is likely to be due, among other things, to the fact that people have to wait longer to get vaccinated after contracting Covid-19. Therefore, due to the high number of infections, just looking at the vaccination rate would provide an incomplete picture,” emphasized Statistics Austria.
People from China and Iran with high vaccination rates
A look at the vaccination rate according to the individual countries of origin, which is 70.4 percent for people born in Austria, provides remarkable results. Men and women born in China and Iran are significantly more vaccinated with a vaccination rate of 79.4 and 79.2 percent, respectively. Those born in the Czech Republic (75.4 percent), those born in Germany (74.5 percent), those born in Italy (73.1 percent) and those born in Turkey (70.5 percent) are also above average.
The willingness to vaccinate is also high among Afghans with a vaccination rate of 69 percent, who have often fled their country of origin to Austria and enjoy asylum status. For people from Syria, for whom the same applies, the vaccination rate is 58.9 percent.
Of the countries of origin reported by Statistics Austria, those born in Romania have the lowest vaccination rate. It is just 50.5 percent. People from Russia (51.8 percent) are not much more willing to vaccinate against Covid-19. Below 60 percent are also native Bulgarians (54.2 percent), people from Slovakia (57.6 percent), Poland (58.0), Hungary (58.2) and Serbia (59.1) .
Omicron and its effects in children
Among children who were vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 much later than adults, the proportion of those who have recovered is high. The Omicron variant also “caught” an uncomplicated proportion of the children. At the end of March, 21 percent of children between the ages of five and nine had already been vaccinated, but a further 40 percent of this age group only had a certificate of recovery.
The proportion of children between the ages of ten and 14 who only recovered was just as high, but here another 41 percent already had a valid vaccination certificate. Among adolescents and adults 15 years and older across all age groups, between 89 and 92 percent have an up-to-date vaccination and/or certificate of recovery.
This proportion was highest among people aged between 75 and 84, where around 89 percent were vaccinated or vaccinated and recovered. Only around three percent had recovered.
Differences depending on the level of education
The proportions of people with a valid vaccination and/or recovery certificate differ significantly according to the highest level of education completed. For 25- to 64-year-olds with compulsory education, that proportion is 86 percent, and 93 percent for those with college degrees, with those with higher degrees tending to have a vaccination certificate and those with lower degrees tend to have a certificate of recovery.
When the same age group is differentiated according to their employment status, it shows that around 92 percent of those in the labor force and around 84 percent of those who were not in the labor force had a valid vaccination and/or recovery certificate. Employed people are both vaccinated (almost 77 percent) and only recovered (almost 16 percent) than those who are not employed (almost 72 percent vaccinated, almost 13 percent exclusively recovered).
Especially many infections in the health sector
Within the group of employees of all ages, there are clear differences between the sectors. Public administration has the highest overall proportion of those with a valid vaccination and/or recovery certificate (96 percent).
There are also differences with regard to the risk of infection in the sectors. In information and communication, around a third of all people were affected by a CoV infection in the past six months. In health and social care it was even 43 percent.