by Charlotte Koderhold ‘23

As Covid-19 cases are declining rapidly across the United States after the surge of Omicron, the most infectious variant yet, European countries are currently still facing peaks of reported cases, leaving many additional people immunized. These altered conditions have prompted governments to lift their restrictions and rethink their vaccination requirements as the numbers of first dose vaccinations hit a ceiling and increased cries for a return to somewhat normal life become audible.

In Europe, first dose vaccinations have come to a standstill. In Germany, which has the largest population within the EU with 80 million citizens, 75.5 percent have received at least two shots. The number of daily distributed doses, however, is declining at a fast rate, with only 7,000 doses distributed daily in the beginning of March, in comparison to 100,000 in July and August 2021. Austria, which has a population of eight million, has a vaccination rate of 73.3 percent and is currently vaccinating an average of only 4,000 people each day.

Despite peaking case numbers, Austria has now withdrawn its previously imposed general vaccination mandate for all adults. This is due to milder cases and low numbers of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units as Karoline Edtstadler, the minister for constitutional affairs from the Austrian People’s Party, argued, while stating that the legal framework will be drafted in preparation for a potentially critical fall season. Austria would have been the first Western democratic country to mandate vaccinations for all citizens aged 18 and above with the threat of fines up to 3,600 euros ($4,000). Austria is hopping on the European bandwagon in dropping nearly all of its Covid-19 restrictions, supposedly in an attempt to build up a solid immunization rate within the population, not merely with the strategy of vaccinations but also infections from the milder Omicron variant.

For months prior there had been restrictions in Austria for unvaccinated people to enter restaurants, theaters, gyms and most shops. Furthermore, there was a curfew in place for unvaccinated people that only allowed them to leave their houses for work and covering basic needs. This had been a highly controversial measurement that led to outrage and resistance amongst anti-vaxxers who took to the streets in protests that sometimes turned violent. It is, therefore, questionable if the vaccine mandate would have had the desired effect of raising the vaccination rate. There have been similar but less restrictive approaches in other European countries such as Italy, Germany and France. Italy and Greece, for example, require senior citizens to be vaccinated.

In the United States the vaccination situation is similar and according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 76,000 Americans received their first shot in early March each day. This marks the lowest rate since December 2020 and the trend is not only observable when it comes to first doses, but also for second shots and booster shots. On the other hand, in April 2021, during the peak of the vaccination campaign and when they were first becoming available to a greater number of eligible groups, an average of 1.8 million Americans were vaccinated each day. It appears as though the people who still have not received their first shot are not likely to be convinced of the proven safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

In a recent survey conducted by the New York Times, 129 U.S. companies were questioned on their vaccine requirements for employees. Three in four employers stated that they planned to require vaccinations for some of the workers; however, five of these companies said that they would accept regular testing as an alternative. This was after the Supreme Court struck down a vaccine mandate of the Biden administration that required employees of larger businesses to be vaccinated while offering a weekly testing alternative. The ruling would have affected 80 million workers nationwide. It is likely that in light of this decision by the Supreme Court, similar vaccination requirements in other areas of public life would not follow through in the United States.