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By Charlotte Trattner
AP Fellow
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Austrian lawmakers on Thursday voted 137-33 in favor of a COVID-19 mandate that requires all residents 18 and older to be vaccinated.
The mandate, which will go into effect on February 1, will allow fines of up to $4,000 for noncompliance.
Officials said the mandate is necessary since Austria's vaccination rate is one of the lowest in Western Europe. Our World Data reported that 74 percent of the country is vaccinated.
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Speaking in parliament, Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein called the mandate a "big, and, for the first time, also lasting step" for Austria in the fight against COVID-19.
"This is how we can manage to escape the cycle of opening and closing, of lockdowns," he said. "That is why this law is so urgently needed right now."
Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl called the measure a blow to Austrians' freedoms. But members of other parties said the Freedom Party was trying to spark anti-vaccination sentiment around Austria, which has had four lockdowns.
The Associated Press reported that Pamela Rendi-Wagner, head of the opposition Social Democrats, said vaccine mandates are necessary, even though nobody wanted them.
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AP reported that police will routinely check vaccination status, and those who cannot show proof of vaccination will first receive a warning and then be fined $685 if they don't comply.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the government also plans to send unvaccinated individuals vaccine appointments and will be fined if they don't show up.
Vaccination exemptions will be made for pregnant women, people who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons and people who have recovered from coronavirus somewhere in the past six months.
There will also be $1.59 billion invested into incentives to encourage unvaccinated people to get the shot.
Since the mandate was first announced, there have been large protests in Vienna, drawing more than 40,000 people.
The mandate was first announced in November of 2021 for ages 14 and older before being changed to 18.
The mandate is the first of its kind in Europe. Italy and Greece made the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for ages 50-plus and 60-plus, respectively.
The Austrian mandate is expected to stay in place until January of 2024.
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