Austria is looking to welcome tourists planning summer holidays after the country’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz vowed to vaccinate everyone in the country by the summer when he expects normality to return.
Kurz, 34, made the optimistic forecast on 7th March, promising: “If you want, you will be vaccinated by the summer.”
The young chancellor, who has faced opposition from Health Minister Rudolf Anschober about loosening restrictions, said that half a million citizens have already received their first COVID-19 shot.
According to the country’s rollout, out of almost nine million inhabitants, nearly 1.5 million under-16s, do not need to be vaccinated.
Additionally, the small Central European country claimed to have secured supplies for around two-thirds of its population.
Kurz said: “This month, we will receive one million vaccine doses, and by summer there will be around 6.8 million doses.”
He added that “older people have absolute priority and vaccine deliveries are increasing so that all inhabitants over 65 can be vaccinated by the end of April”.
However, this leaves police officers and teachers on the waiting list as the AstraZeneca vaccine was recently approved for elderly people who now come first.
In addition, the leader of the Austrian People’s Party and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen discussed the pandemic situation during a recent trip to Israel.
They both talked about the possibility of seeing measures ease after the over-50s are vaccinated.
Kurz promised: “In the summer, things will be normal again.”
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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