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Austria's vaccine mandate: What you need to know if you have a non EMA-approved vaccine

The Local Austria
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Austria's vaccine mandate: What you need to know if you have a non EMA-approved vaccine
A Palestinian medic prepares to give a dose of the Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign by the health ministry in Gaza City , on August 27, 2021. - The Palestinian enclave of some two million people has seen an upsurge in infections of the more contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 in recent days. So far, around 135,000 Gazans have had two vaccine jabs. The territory has received some 336,000 doses but many people remain reluctant to get inoculated (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Austria's vaccine mandate came into force over the weekend, but some of the finer points of the regulation are still being worked out, including what applies to people who received vaccines not recognised in Austria.

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The new law makes vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for all adults, though there are exceptions for pregnant people and those who cannot get the jab for medical reasons (this must be proved with a medical certificate). 

Although the law came into effect on Saturday, an additional ordinance is still pending as of Monday, which will set out exactly who is and isn't considered as vaccinated in Austria. This should be decided on by parliament later on January 7th.

READ MORE: Who is exempt from Austria’s new vaccine mandate?

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The vaccinations currently recognised in Austria for 2G purposes are only those approved by the EMA: AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer. This has caused problems for people who received other vaccines, for example including Sputnik and Sinopharm, who were affected by the long-running lockdown for the unvaccinated and by 2G restrictions for shops and restaurants. 

Under the 2G rules however, people with a non-EMA approved vaccine can be considered to have proof of 2G if they show proof of antibodies in addition to proof of a single dose of an mRNA vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer only).

This combination is valid as 2G proof for 270 days from the date of your EMA-approved vaccine, according to the Health Ministry.

READ MORE: I had a non-EMA approved vaccine, how do I get 2G proof in Austria?

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As for the vaccine mandate, some non-EMA approved vaccines will be considered as proof of vaccination, but not all.

In addition to the four jabs approved by the EMA, two Chinese-manufactured vaccines (Sinovac and Sinopharm) and three from India (Covaxin, Covovax, and Covishield) will be considered as compliant, meaning that people who can show proof of full vaccination from these vaccines should not risk falling foul of the law. These vaccines all have WHO approval and are already accepted as proof of vaccination for the purposes of travel to Austria.

The Sputnik jab however is not considered compliant for the purposes of the vaccine mandate.

According to reports in Austrian media, a special regulation will allow people who received two doses of the Sputnik vaccine to be considered fully vaccinated in Austria, if they get a single dose of an approved vaccine as well as a full course of the non-approved vaccine. This would also apply to other vaccines which are approved abroad but not in Austria. We will update this article once the regulation has been finalised and the details made public.

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