At the same time, MP Peter Wurm called on the protests at the FPÖ demonstration on Saturday to be kept peaceful. The NEOS also sharply criticized the government.
Corona medication ordered
Once again, the liberal health spokesman Gerhard Kaniak accused the government of just looking at the vaccination and forgetting about the medication. The lockdown only postpones the problem. Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) replied that two very promising drugs would be ordered, namely paxlovid (270,000 therapy cycles) and molnupiravir (80,000 therapy cycles). These are very interesting options.
FPÖ sees democracy over
Kaniak’s colleague Wurm saw the compulsory vaccination as “breaking a taboo of unimagined proportions”. The word democracy can safely be used in Austria in the past tense. The protests were advertised, but it was emphasized that one should not allow oneself to be provoked: “We stand for peaceful rallies and not for escalation,” said Wurm.
NEOS health spokesman Gerald Loacker attacked Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) and Health Minister Mückstein directly. A trained press spokesman and a trained doctor were taken from the federal states of the Nasenring to Tyrol and back and had nine veteran political foxes “straighten their calves”. For example, he cannot understand the closure of the store, where there is no risk of contagion: “You have to be concerned that they are sponsored by Amazon and Zalando.”
Mückstein, for his part, advocated pulling together and voting unanimously in the main committee for the lockdown on Saturday. In view of the situation at the hospitals, it is necessary to proceed decisively. For the compulsory vaccination, he promised a detailed assessment.
The main reason for the debate were two legislative initiatives. For example, against the votes of the FPÖ, the umbrella association of social insurance institutions was commissioned to write a letter to insured persons who have not yet received a corona vaccination about their increased risk of seriously contracting COVID-19 and at the same time to show them the options for themselves to get vaccinated for free. An appointment should also be included, Mückstein would like. SPÖ health spokesman Philip Kucher noted that his party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner made this demand months ago.
The second decision, this time against the votes of NEOS: The cost reimbursement for operational tests, which actually expired at the end of October, will be extended until the end of the year. The SPÖ would have preferred a more extensive regulation. Green health spokesman Ralph Schallmeiner, on the other hand, wants to evaluate whether the tests do not discourage vaccination. This was shown by all ÖVP speakers on health matters as the only way out of the crisis.
Source From: Nachrichten
