THE NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

On Friday, the 19th of November 2021 the Austrian chancellor “Alexander Schallenberg” made a U-turn from his position he had earlier this week and announced a further lockdown for his country.

He also announced that there has been made an agreement between the Austrian government and heads of the provincial governments to introduce mandatory vaccination in Austria beginning on the 1st of February 2022.

A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

The plan regarding the mandatory vaccination is not a law, yet. The agreement between the Austrian government and heads of the provincial governments were made at a night in a hotel in Tirol. But it was announced officially by the chancellor on Friday.

The decision about the lockdown seems to be quite definite and becomes effective on Monday.

But we often hear, that there are already laws in place which might prevent the plans for the mandatory vaccination from becoming legal law or give an opportunity to challenge it afterwards, in case it gets voted through.

The first that comes to mind might be the Nuremberg Code (Nürnberger Codex) of 1947. This code primarily regulates experiments on humans and sets limitations. The Nuremberg Code of 1997 relaxes many of the limitations. Unfortunately, neither code became law. It was never signed by any nation. But the Nuremberg Code influenced some laws regarding human rights.

The next that comes in mind might be the Resolution 2361 of the Council of Europe from 27th of January 2021. In this resolution the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe urged its member states and the European Union to ensure that citizens are informed that the vaccination is not mandatory and that there is no discrimination against not having been vaccinated. However, the Assembly does not have the power to create binding laws. Also, the European Union is not even a member.

It might very well be possible, that there actually are binding laws which prevent mandatory vaccination. But the ice is thin and legal protection is no matter of course.

SUPPORT, RESISTANCE AND OPINIONS

In late September 2021 (20th to 27th) there were 2 petitions running in Austria for 1 week simultaneously. Both petitions were started by the same group (Initiative IGE um Marcus Hohenecker). These petitions can be seen as a referendum on mandatory vaccination.

PETITION Y: “mandatory vaccination: Yes, if absolutely necessary“
PETITION X: “mandatory vaccination: Under no circumstances”

From the title of these petitions, one can notice the influence the initiator took: If you strongly agree or disagree, then the title has no influence on you. But:

• If you somewhat agree with mandatory vaccination, then you might sign the “Yes, if absolutely necessary” petition.
• But if you somewhat disagree, then you wouldn’t sign the “Under no circumstances” petition.

In Austria there have only been 45 successful petitions so far. To have a successful petition, the initiative needs to collect 100 000 signatures + support promises in total within 1 week.

A petition has no direct influence on politics. However, if it is successful then a discussion about the topic will take place in the national council (Nationalrat).

So even if the titles skew the results in favour of mandatory vaccination, let’s have a look at the results anyway:

CREDITS / SOURCES

Nuremberg Code of 1947:
www.ippnw-nuernberg.de/aktivitaet2_1.html

Resolution 2361:
https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29004/html

PETITION Y:
www.bmi.gv.at/411/Volksbegehren_der_XX_Gesetzgebungsperiode/Impfpflicht_Notfalls_Ja/start.aspx

PETITION X:
www.bmi.gv.at/411/Volksbegehren_der_XX_Gesetzgebungsperiode/Impfpflicht_Striktes_Nein/start.aspx