Covid-19 in Austria: Will the Chancellor's Promise be Broken?
As of today, not all of Austria's nine provinces can imagine that all those who want to get vaccinated will in fact receive their first vaccination by June. Read about the recent developments below.
Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz might not be able to keep his promise that all those who want to get vaccinated will in fact receive their first vaccination by June. / Picture: © Bundeskanzleramt (BKA) / Dragan Tatic
"Currently, two-thirds of all those who want to be vaccinated in Austria have already been vaccinated once," said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
According to a press release by the Austrian Chancellery, with around 3.7 million people currently vaccinated, more than two-thirds of those over the age of 16 who want to be vaccinated have already received their first vaccination.
"The ongoing vaccination progress also ensures that the Covid-19 situation is increasingly improving and that we currently have infection rates as low as they were last at the beginning of September. This gives reason for confidence," Kurz said.
However, the promise of the Chancellor to offer the first vaccination to everyone who wants one by June might not hold.
According to the Austrian Press Agency (APA), not every Austrian province will be able to fulfill this promise. Especially, Vienna's City Councillor for Health Peter Hacker is skeptical about the predefined time frame, while Lower Austria is confident that it can keep the Chancellor's promise.
In addition to being skeptical about offering a vaccine to all of those who want one by June, Hacker aims for a vaccination rate of around 80 percent in Vienna.
He stated that according to the calculations of some experts, a vaccination rate of 65 percent is simply too low to prevent another wave in the event of a flare-up of a variant such as the one that was first discovered in India. With a vaccination coverage rate of 80 percent, there could still be small dents, but at least not a real wave.
By the end of June, Vienna aims to have vaccinated 55 to 60 percent of the total population living in Vienna, and by mid-July, 70.