Every citizen should be able to add all vaccinations that they have received so far in their life to the electronic vaccination card free of charge. The federal government, the federal states and the social security system and ELGA GmbH are currently working on this, as Andreas Huss, chairman of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (GK), explains.
“I want many institutions to be able to do this in a qualified manner. Social security in their external offices is one possibility. Pharmacies, district authorities or chambers – others. No doctor needs to do that, a trained person is enough,” says Huss. But the exact process is still open, and a solution should be found soon this year.
Doctors already offer these supplements in the e-vaccination pass in their ordinations and charge between 25 euros (for one or two supplements) and 45 euros (all supplements including detailed advice).
Huss criticizes this: “Doctors are not allowed to turn it into a business model, the e-vaccination certificate is the property of the federal government, the federal states and the social security system.”
Upper Austria’s Medical Association President Peter Niedermoser counters: The Federal Curia had made a tariff recommendation for doctors because adding “a lot of responsibility is a lot of work”. Currently this is not a cash benefit. It is up to the GK to “compensate for it in an economically correct manner” – after all, they write positive results.
Refresh: reminder function
According to Huss, work is also currently being carried out on a reminder function. In future, this will automatically remind you when you need to refresh a certain vaccination – for example by SMS. That should come in 2022.
