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Austria will apply from February 1 a broad covid-19 vaccination mandate, which includes fines for unvaccinated adults.

The government announced last November that the vaccination mandate was necessary to address the low vaccination rate in the country. The first draft of the law was published in December, and a revised draft was published on Monday and is now going through Parliament.

All people over the age of 18 living in Austria must be vaccinated against covid-19, according to the latest project. Some groups of people are exempt, such as pregnant women, people who have recovered from a covid-19 infection (who are exempt after 180 days of a positive PCR test), and people who cannot be vaccinated without jeopardizing their health. Health.

“Mandatory vaccination does not come suddenly, but rather in stages,” Chancellor Karl Nehammer told the public broadcaster ORF on Sunday.

No fines will be imposed during the initial phase, which lasts until mid-March, Nehammer said. Starting March 15, law enforcement will start checking whether people comply with the new law, for example by checking their vaccination status at traffic checkpoints.

People face fines of up to 600 euros ($685) if they don’t have a vaccination certificate or an exemption. So-called “reminder dates” can also be established, in which people are reminded by letter that they should be vaccinated.

In the third phase of the mandate, these reminder dates will be followed by “vaccination dates”. People who have not been vaccinated or do not have an exemption by then will be fined.

There will be two “shot dates” each year. A person can receive a maximum of four fines a year, which would mean a total of 2,400 euros ($2,741).

The vaccination mandate is scheduled to last until January 31, 2024 and will be continuously evaluated until then, according to the Austrian Ministry of Health.