Traditionally, in Austria, when it comes to vaccination, incentives and indirect measures are used, for example through doctor talks as part of the mother-child pass examinations or employment requirements for certain professions. But it was different with smallpox: On June 30, 1948, a “Federal Law on Protective Vaccination for Smallpox” was passed, which did not stipulate a general compulsory vaccination, but came pretty close to one. The law did not specify compulsory vaccination, rather non-compliance with the vaccination was sanctioned with an administrative penalty.
Children in particular had to be vaccinated – by December 31st of the calendar year following their birth or in the calendar year of completing their twelfth year if they went to school. In addition, adults who had a “smallpox-endangered profession” or worked in “smallpox-endangered institutions or companies” were required to be vaccinated.
So de facto all children were covered by the compulsory vaccination as well as adults in “endangered” professions or in a “endangered” work environment. What was considered to be such an endangered occupation or environment was stipulated by ordinance. In addition, so-called “emergency vaccinations” could be ordered – for example if smallpox had occurred in the vicinity of the unvaccinated.
Anyone who violated the obligation to vaccinate had to pay an administrative fine of up to 1000 schillings or be arrested for up to 14 days. According to today’s monetary value, that would be around 1200 euros. Parents who refused to have their children vaccinated were also punished the same way.
Duty ended in 1981
The law was not repealed until January 1, 1981, after the World Health Assembly officially declared smallpox to be eradicated thanks to the vaccination.
“Without compulsory vaccination, we would never have eradicated smallpox at the end of the 1970s,” said the chairwoman of the Austrian Bioethics Commission, Christiane Druml, recently.
The British doctor Edward Jenner had developed a vaccine at the end of the 18th century by injecting people with the harmless cowpox virus, which gave them immunity to the life-threatening smallpox disease.
Source From: Nachrichten
