The vaccination effort in Austria has been held back by doctors who favour holistic treatments, according to an Irish business owner living in the country.
It was announced this morning that Austria would become the first European country to return to a full national lockdown.
The country had previously introduced strict restrictions for unvaccinated people, with the full lockdown coming just days after those measures were introduced.
The country also became the first to introduce mandatory vaccination – with the 35% of the country’s population that remains unvaccinated given until February to get the jab.
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Mairead Wintersteller, a Kerrywoman who runs a business in Austria with her husband said the country’s intensive care units are under severe pressure.
“It is just a really, really hard situation,” she said. “The last couple of months, when we got into autumn again, same as last year, the numbers just soared.
“The uptake of vaccine is so low over here and they have been trying for the last couple of weeks to put the unvaccinated people under pressure.
“They restricted their movements and then last week, they were under a full lockdown but now we all have to go into it together because it is not making a difference at the moment.”
Ms Wintersteller said anti-vax sentiment from one of the country’s right-wing political parties has undermined the vaccine effort.
She said doctors in general seem to be less supportive of the vaccine than in other countries.
“Just from living here, I feel that a lot of people are into more holistic medicine as well going hand in hand with modern medicine,” she said.
“My doctor here, our local GP, would be more holistic. You go in and ask for your antibiotics and you get your holistic medicine first.
“So, I went in to get my vaccine back in March and his reaction to me was like, what are you doing? Why are you getting this vaccine? You have no idea what you are putting in your body – like scaremongering.
“He did the same thing to my husband and it is not just our doctor – a few of our employees … rang up their doctors and the same reaction. So, there is a lot of that too.
“There is also a bit of stubbornness. I feel like there are a lot of people saying no I am not getting it; I don’t like to be told what to do.”
She said her business was able to ‘get through by the skin of our teeth’ last year and everyone is now just praying this latest lockdown will be short.
“We can just hope that we will be open for Christmas, but it is very, very worrying. It is worrying for us; it is worrying for our staff and the whole area around us.
“People just are getting very, very frustrated. We just want to get out of this.”
