In Austria, almost 100,000 people have received a corona booster vaccination so far. This is evident from figures published by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday. The National Immunization Committee currently recommends the fourth vaccination for all over-80s, a reduction to 65 years is under discussion. Younger players can get the refresher on a voluntary basis – at the earliest four months after the third stab.
According to the new data, 95,199 people have received a fourth injection to date and another 732 have received a fifth or more doses of vaccine. In total, a total of 6.875 million people had been vaccinated against the corona virus at least once on Wednesday.
New criteria for completeness of vaccination
The ministry has changed the rules that register the number of fully vaccinated people. Until now, vaccination certificates have been used as a benchmark. In other words: anyone in possession of a valid vaccination certificate is fully vaccinated. In the future, the ministry will follow the recommendations of the National Vaccination Commission (NIG) – regardless of whether the relevant vaccination certificate has already expired or not.
Vaccination rate increases due to new calculation
In practice, this means that people under 80 continue to appear in the statistics as vaccinated, even if their vaccination certificate expires – because the vaccination panel has not yet recommended a booster vaccination for this age group. The difference is already noticeable in the numbers: in the new evaluation, 80,735 people are still considered vaccinated for whom the vaccination certificate has already expired. Accordingly, the vaccination coverage of the population according to the new calculation method is slightly higher than according to the old calculation: 62.5 percent of people in Austria are currently considered vaccinated according to the recommendation, but only 61.6 percent still have a valid vaccination certificate.
“The NIG advice is a living document”
Should the immunization committee make a recommendation for booster vaccinations also for younger age groups, the vaccination coverage of the population will decrease accordingly. The Ministry of Health also points out in a broadcast on Wednesday: “The NIG advice is a living document that is always adapted to the latest epidemiological developments. The change in the methodology for calculating the vaccination coverage therefore ensures that the communicated vaccination coverage is also continuously adapted to current epidemiological developments.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
