by Robert Hart | Forbes - November 21st 2021
Austria is set to become the first country in Europe to make Covid-19 vaccination compulsory— only a handful of nations around the world have issued a sweeping mandate for all adults in a bid to control coronavirus infections:
Austria will make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory from February 1, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said, though it is not clear what penalties will be put in place for people still refusing the jab after this point.
Indonesia introduced a sweeping mandate in February in an attempt to accelerate its immunization program and residents could be denied social assistance, government services or face harsh financial penalties if they do not comply.
Micronesia, a small island nation of just over 100,000 people, mandated inoculation for everyone over the age of 18 in late July, requiring anyone receiving federal funds—a large portion of the adult population—to prove their vaccination status to receive their checks.
Turkmenistan—which is one of the few countries still claiming to have no Covid-19 inside its borders and faces accusations of falsifying data given to the World Health Organization—made vaccination compulsory for all eligible adults in July.
Mandatory vaccination for children:
Costa Rica became the first country in the world to require Covid-19 vaccination for children in early November, when officials said the shot will join a suite of others already needed by law. Officials have not announced a lower age limit for the policy and doses for under 12s are expected to arrive in March next year. As shots are greenlit for use in younger children by regulators, mandates are likely to emerge on a local level.
Governments around the world are turning up the heat on those still refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Increasingly, governments are targeting holdouts with strict measures to boost vaccination rates, including targeted lockdowns, restricting access to public spaces, no longer covering healthcare costs if they contract coronavirus and mandating the shot.
Mandates covering the entire population are extreme, and the majority are focused on specific groups, such as public servants or healthcare workers.