Minister for Europe Karoline Edtstadler has spoken out against the transfer of national health literacy to the EU, even when it comes to compulsory vaccination. “The question of compulsory vaccination is of course a national question,” Edtstadtler countered von der Leyen’s approach.
“We should possibly think about a mandatory vaccination in the EU,” said von der Leyen last. But each state has to decide for itself, stressed Edtstadler on Wednesday. She reported “great interest in the Austrian compulsory vaccination,“ other countries may want to follow suit ”.
“Unfortunately we still haven’t gotten over the pandemic,” she said. The new Omikron variant has not yet been researched a lot, “an urgent need now for a faster comparison of the data and experience among the member states,” she continued.
Despite the national responsibilities, the EU states have to coordinate in order to give people the greatest possible freedom of travel, said the European Minister. This now works “quite well” with the Green Pass.
Corona management was “a bit bumpy” at the beginning of the crisis, and at the European level, “answers were also missing”, so Edtstadler. In the meantime you have almost two years of experience. Edtstadler will meet with colleagues on Thursday on the sidelines of the EU summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels, where the compulsory vaccination should also be discussed.
Austria is the first EU country to introduce compulsory vaccinations. In some other EU countries, including Germany, it is also up for debate. Health policy is the competence of the member states, but the EU Commission can propose legally non-binding recommendations.
