Schützenhöfer said this, especially with regard to a possible vaccination requirement for teaching staff. This line is shared by several countries, as an APA broadcast shows.
Green government politicians in particular, such as Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, recently considered compulsory vaccination in the health sector to be sensible, but at the same time pointed out that the states can decide for themselves. A similar solution is now being discussed in schools. In Styria you are “one step further”, said Schützenhöfer. “Because we have already given preference to vaccinated people when they are accepted into the national service.” This rule applies from August 1st.
Haberlander calls for nationwide regulation
Support for Schützenhofer’s demand came from several federal states on Friday. The willingness to vaccinate in the health and education sector in Upper Austria is “very high” and they continue to rely on education, information and motivation on the one hand and on a broad, low-threshold and uncomplicated vaccination offer on the other. Nevertheless, Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander (ÖVP), who is responsible for health, wants the federal government to issue a corresponding nationwide regulation on this issue, as she said in the OÖN on Tuesday.
Health Councilor LHStv throbbed in Salzburg as well. Christian Stöckl (ÖVP) on Friday again on a nationwide uniform approach – for example in the health sector, for professions close to the body or in the education sector. “Individual solutions only create opaque chaos”. In health planning, the federal government sets the major lines, which is why it is only logical that it also ensures uniform regulations here. For the Salzburg state clinics, which fall within his area of responsibility, Stöckl reported a vaccination rate of over 90 percent for doctors and over 80 percent for nursing staff on Friday.
In Carinthia, a partial vaccination requirement for certain occupational groups is currently not expedient and instead relies on low-threshold access to vaccinations and an information campaign, it said on Friday in the office of Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) opposite the APA. Should a vaccination become necessary for certain professional groups, for example for teachers, a nationwide uniform regulation would definitely be needed. “You have to avoid a carpet of vaccinations that would only cause incomprehension and chaos. And the federal government has to take care of that.”
Talks in Lower Austria are ongoing
In Burgenland, due to the high vaccination rate, “there is no reason to discuss further job-specific vaccination obligations – not even for the pedagogical area,” said APA from the state. A Covid-19 vaccination has only been a prerequisite for new admissions to the Burgenland hospitals since May. It was included in the proof of immunity, with which new employees have had to prove vaccinations against rubella, measles and hepatitis B, among other things, for several years.
In Lower Austria, the discussions and consultations were still going on regarding a preference for vaccinated persons when they were accepted into the regional service (as in Styria from August 1st, note), was learned on Friday from the country house in St. Pölten. A decision can be expected in the coming days. Two weeks ago, Lower Austria called for mandatory vaccinations for new educators. A “nationwide coordination of the federal states” is desirable in order to guarantee an “Austria-wide uniform procedure”.
The Vorarlberg state government did not want to comment on this issue to the APA on Friday.
The Styrian FPÖ club chairman Mario Kunasek spoke in view of Schützerhöfer’s suggestion on Friday in a broadcast of the governor’s “forced vaccination fantasies”. In Styria he has already introduced a compulsory vaccination through the back door, and now he wants to “harass nationwide employees and citizens.” Whether or not to get vaccinated is a highly personal decision.
