Covid-19 in Austria: Vienna Launches Vaccination Booster Offensive

Vienna is continuing its vaccination campaign against COVID-19, and for those people in at-risk groups that received the second vaccination more than six months ago, the booster vaccination is now available and recommended.

Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig, City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker, and the Medical Director of the Vienna Health Network, Michael Binder, recently took stock of the vaccination progress in Vienna at a media event and presented the roadmap for further Covid vaccination and the booster vaccination.

To this end, the city is setting up a new vaccination portal at mein.wien.gv.at, where appointments for booster vaccinations can be booked. In addition, there will be individual online advice on refreshing the Covid vaccination in the future.

Vienna successful in immunization coverage; “next challenge” is vaccination booster

“Vienna was always on the safe side during the pandemic,” emphasized Mayor Ludwig. Even if there had been criticism of the city’s measures, Vienna had come through the pandemic well compared to other federal states, the mayor stressed.

Mayor Ludwig said that Austria is doing well on average in terms of 7-day incidence and vaccination rates. He noted that Austria managed to raise the vaccination rate over the summer. Ludwig asserted that “the next challenge” is the booster vaccination and explained that the third vaccination will be the focus in the near future.

The City of Vienna has used the summer to encourage as many Viennese as possible to get vaccinated with creative vaccination offers, including the vaccination boat on the Old Danube, vaccinations in the municipal housing and Steffl, vaccination at the supermarket checkout, or in the Lugner City, summarized City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker.

Through all vaccination offers that did not require appointments, not including the Impfstrasse (“Vaccination Street”) in the Austria Center Vienna, the city was able to vaccinate an additional  139,229 Viennese, explained Hacker.

In principle, the vaccination coverage rate in Vienna is “gratifyingly high,” Hacker said. The vaccination coverage rate among 30- to 50-year-olds in Vienna is 70 percent. In the next oldest age group between 50 and 80 years, the rate is more than 80 percent, and it is even beyond 90 percent among those even older.

“In recent weeks, progress has been made especially in those districts where many young people live,” Hacker said. He said that the greatest progress has been made in the “youngest” districts of Floridsdorf, Favoriten, or Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus.

The COVID-19 booster vaccination is already underway in Vienna. Just under 22,000 Viennese have already received their third vaccination. According to Hacker, these are mainly those who were vaccinated early a year ago, i.e., residents of nursing homes and health care workers, as well as medical staff and educators.

The National Immunization Panel (NIG) recommends booster vaccinations between six and nine months after the second vaccination for anyone older than 65 with risk factors and for those who have received both vaccinations from Astra Zeneca.

For everyone else–those younger than 65 and dually vaccinated with Moderna or Biontech/Pfizer–the NIG recommends booster vaccinations starting 12 months after full immunization.

Those vaccinated once with Johnson and Johnson are recommended to get the booster as early as 28 days after vaccination.

New vaccination portal, letter on booster vaccination and myths, and online vaccination appointment calculator

To make booking vaccination appointments easier, the City of Vienna has now implemented a new vaccination management system on mein.wien.gv.at ahead of the large-scale Corona booster vaccinations and influenza vaccination.

In the new vaccination portal, all vaccination appointments–including for flu or TBE vaccination campaigns–should be able to be booked in the future, said Hacker.

In addition, it is possible to make mere consultation appointments, and the system can also be used for group bookings for vaccinations of family members.

Those who are already registered with impfservice.wien can transfer existing data to the new system in the course of registering with the new platform.

To inform the Viennese about the upcoming booster vaccination, the city will send a letter to all Viennese households before the end of October, Hacker announced.

The letter–in German, English, Turkish, and BKS–provides answers to questions about the booster vaccination, which varies depending on age, risk classification, and the vaccine previously received.

To provide information on the right time for the booster, a booster calculator is also now available on impfservice.wien, which all Viennese can use to determine when they can receive their third vaccination.

People not fully vaccinated are driving force behind infections

The medical director of the Vienna Health Network, Michael Binder, insistently pointed out that vaccination is a proven and effective protection against disease and especially against a severe course of the disease. “All studies and experiences show vaccination works extremely well,” Binder said.

"In the case of new infections as well as those who have been hospitalized, people who have not been fully vaccinated make up the majority of those affected," said Binder.

Of the 6,208 active Covid cases reported as of 11 October 2021, 81 percent were not fully vaccinated. According to Binder, 172 Covid patients were in normal care in Vienna hospitals - 71 percent of whom were not fully vaccinated.

This picture is even more drastic among intensive care patients. Roughly 93 percent of Covid patients in intensive care units in Viennese hospitals were not fully vaccinated.

In addition to its effectiveness, Binder said, it has now been proven that myths surrounding the Covid vaccine are “incorrect.”

“Clinical studies show that vaccination has no effect on women’s fertility or men’s potency,” asserted Binder. On the contrary, he said, anyone with a desire to have children should definitely get vaccinated.

He continued, “It has been scientifically proven that women are at increased risk for a severe course of covid disease during pregnancy. So for them, vaccination is even more important protection.”

City of Vienna