Fewer and fewer people in Austria are following the recommendations of the National Vaccination Commission (NIG) on corona vaccination. This is according to data published online by the Ministry of Health. Accordingly, only slightly more than half are vaccinated according to expert recommendations. That is 817,000 fewer people than in July. The Ministry of Health now wants to stop the associated statistics and only publish the number of vaccine doses administered.
Since the end of June, the Ministry of Health has been publishing online how many people follow the experts’ recommendations for corona vaccination. At that time, 5.6 million had been vaccinated according to the NIG recommendation – that’s equivalent to 62 percent of the population. Since then, however, the number has fallen steadily: currently only 4.8 million follow the advice of vaccination experts (53 percent).
People over the age of 65 are most strongly guided by recommendations
The decline is particularly strong in the older age groups. Vaccination coverage for the over-85s has fallen from 84 to 61 percent and for 75 to 84-year-olds from 86 to 71. In general, the over-65s follow the recommendations of the National Immunization Commission the most. At 72 percent, vaccination coverage is highest among 65 to 74-year-olds.
Fourth vaccination recommended from twelve years
The vaccination committee has recently expanded its advice for corona vaccination several times. Since the end of August, experts have advised the fourth vaccination (“booster vaccination”) from the age of twelve instead of only from the age of 60. For the over-60s, the interval to the third vaccination was reduced to four months. Before the summer, the refresher advice only applied to the over-65s or risk groups.
How many people in total follow the NIG recommendation and how many do not, will not be publicly visible until mid-December. The Ministry of Health announced another change to the corona statistics on Tuesday: According to the NIG advice, the daily publication of the vaccination rate will not take place until December 15. In the future, only how many people have completed the first series of vaccinations (first and second vaccination) and how many also received the third vaccination (“primary vaccination”) and a “booster” (fourth or more) will be reported.
The ministry justified the change in vaccination statistics by stating that the recommendations of the vaccination commission focused in great detail on the individual factors of individual populations. Instead of presenting this level of detail in the vaccination rate, you now focus on the vaccination intervals. In addition, they want to prevent a “dynamic adjustment of the vaccination rate” after changed vaccination advice, according to a spokesperson for the ministry.
Source: Krone
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