Austrian COVID vaccine mandate to remain suspended in summer

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s coronavirus vaccination mandate has been suspended for another three months until the end of August. A parliamentary committee signed off Wednesday on an order from the health minister extending the suspension. Officials said on Tuesday that the mandate for people aged 18 and over, which became law in early February but hasn’t yet been put into effect, would remain suspended. They said a commission of experts had concluded that enforcing it currently would not be proportionate and therefore was unjustified. The plan was first announced in November amid a surge in cases that sent Austria into a lockdown. But the sense of urgency has since evaporated.