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The debate over slow vaccine deliveries to Austria continues and is also intensifying within the coalition.
The Ministry of Health of the Greens made available to the parliamentary committee, which is supposed to examine Corona’s acquisitions, an email with the Ministry of Finance headed by the vice-president of July 2020: The email that OÖNachrichten has received is about a Conference of the so-called Ministerial Council for Vaccine Purchases. The Greens’ proposal to estimate “more than 200 million euros” for this has been corrected by the finance department to “up to 200 million euros”. In the Ministry of Finance this is justified by the fact that the phrase “more than” does not represent a correct budget estimate. Of course, if necessary, more funds could be made available, but the Ministry of Health did not request it. Currently, around 53 million of the 200 million euros have been summoned.
For the opposition, these statements are just excuses. The SPÖ, FPÖ and Neos yesterday called for the resignation of Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (VP). He lied because he had repeatedly stated that there was no spending limit. “One of the biggest scandals in Austrian history,” said SP Deputy Chief Jörg Leichtfried. With the cost cap, officials couldn’t order enough vaccine.
Austria’s vaccination quota of 13.5 percent who received at least one dose is currently above the EU average (11.3 percent). Among the fully immunized, 4.4 percent remains just below the EU average (4.9 percent).
